


I met you in the dark, you lit me up

by mseg_21



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bisexual Richie Tozier, Fluff, Idiots in Love, M/M, Minor Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Reddie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-03-16 22:15:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13645524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mseg_21/pseuds/mseg_21
Summary: Richie Tozier and Eddie Kaspbrak meet for the first time when they are in college. They share an instant connection. This is their story.OR,A Reddie College AU filled with flirting, bad jokes and so much fluff, it's bound to give you a cavity <3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Richie Tozier meets Eddie Kaspbrak for the first time when he is in college. They meet at a bar, when both of their friends ditch them for each other. They talk, they drink, they dance and by the end of the night Richie is already a little bit in love with him.

Richie Tozier met Eddie Kaspbrak on his second year of college. He met him on a bar near campus on a Saturday night. He was there because his best friend Beverly Marsh had dragged him out of their apartment claiming she was not going to let him stay in two nights in a row, sulking and having ice cream for dinner. Only she chose to ditch him less than five minutes after getting there for this guy she had met a few weeks ago, some architecture major named Ben Hanscom.

Granted she didn't leave him right away, they actually ate and talked for a while before she saw Ben and some friend of his and left to say hi, not to mention Richie wasn't on his best behavior, so he couldn't really blame her for wanting to talk to Ben instead. Richie figured he would drink a few more beers and then head back to his room and be miserable, which had been his plan for the evening.

Only now that he was by himself, without Bev to distract him, the reason why he was in such a bad mood in the first place was the only thing he could think about.   His mind was filled with Heather, Heather and more Heather. He thought about Heather's smile, the crinkle in her eyes when she would laugh at Richie's awful jokes, how she would curl up next to him when they watched movies.

He also thought about the way she reacted when Richie told her he liked guys too and how afterwards she would glare at him when he got “too close” to Stan or Mike and finally he thought about the look in her eyes when she broke up with him, claiming she needed space or time or some shit like that, only to start dating some other guy less than a week later. That had happened three months ago and Richie was over it and over her, but he ran into Heather and her new boyfriend the day before and that brought all those memories back to the surface and left him in a foul mood.

He figured this wasn't working, if he was going to be miserable he might as well do it back home, at least there, he had ice cream. He grabbed some money from his wallet and was already standing up when someone slid on the seat next to his.

“Damn, you are leaving?” the guy asked him, Richie turned to him thinking it was someone he knew, maybe a classmate or someone from work. He was already trying to think up some excuse so he wouldn't have to hang around when he got a good look at the guy.  Whatever words that were about to leave his mouth died on his throat, not only because he definitely didn't know the guy but also because he was the most beautiful person Richie had ever seen.

“Uh… yes… I mean… uh... I'm sorry, do I know you?” Richie stuttered, mentally slapping himself for sounding like an idiot.

“Right. No, you don't know me. I know you though” Richie's eyebrows rose and the kid must have figured out how that sounded because his eyes widened and he blushed, before adding, “Shit, that sounds creepy. I know your name, I'm friends with Ben, Ben Hanscom? He's always talking about your best friend, Beverly? He mentioned you” he looks down now, still embarrassed. _Gosh he's so fucking cute_ , Richie thinks and smiles at him.

“He ditched you the moment Bev showed up?” Richie asked.

“Not really, Ben's too nice for that but I got tired of being the third wheel on the table. And I saw you walk in with Beverly so I thought I'd come over here” he answered while signaling the bartender for another drink.

“Because Beverly ditched me and you though I looked miserable, all here by myself?” he smirked when the guy's blush deepened.

“I didn't say that!” his voice came out more like a squeak and it made Richie laugh. When he saw that Richie wasn't really offended, the guy relaxed a bit, “I just felt it was dumb to drink on my own when you were right here. Also, from what I've gathered after seeing Beverly and Ben together, we were gonna meet eventually, those two are like, five seconds away from officially starting to date each other” he turned a little bit when he said that, probably looking at the two in question, which let Richie get a good look at him.

He could tell that the kid was short, his feet were nowhere near the floor whereas Richie's rested on it. He was wearing shorts and Richie tried not to stare at his legs but it was hard with how much of them he was showing. He had brown hair, short compared to Richie's but it still curled around his ears and on his forehead a bit. He had a lot of freckles and his eyes were a deep brown, like melted chocolate.

Those eyes were looking back at him, with a questioning look and Richie realized he had probably been staring for a while now and it was his turn to blush.

He cleared his throat, went to take a swig form his beer, only to find the bottle gone. He could feel the kid's eyes on him so he gestured to the bartender for another one.

“Changed your mind about leaving?” asked the bartender with a smirk and a glance on the kid's direction, making Richie choke on his beer and blush even harder. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the guy holding back a grin at the bartender's remark. Richie cleared his throat and tried to fill in the awkward silence.

“What's your name?” he asked.

“It's Eddie, Eddie Kaspbrak.” The guy said and then he looked at Richie's beer bottle and with a smirk, he added, “I thought you were leaving”.

“Well, Eddie Spaghetti, I realized I might need another beer or two before I head back home to your mother” Richie joked and laughed at the way Eddie's face scrunched up.

“First of all, that's just gross. Second of all, do _not_ call me that.”

“Sure thing Eds.”

“I'm seriously regretting telling you my name now.”

“Would you rather I just called you cutie then?” Richie asked without thinking and before he could even start feeling embarrassed, he saw Eddie freeze and blush aggressively and wasn't that the cutest thing he had ever seen.

It took Eddie a few seconds to recover from Richie's flirty comment and when he did he could only whisper “I guess Eds it's fine”.

Richie smiled. _Yeah_ , he thought, _I guess I'll stay for one or two more beers._

One or two beers turned into four more and a round of shots. They talked a lot and Richie marveled at how easy it was to talk to Eddie. They even danced at one point, when one of Eddie's favorite songs came on and he dragged Richie to where other people were dancing. Richie didn't do much dancing, he stood there watching Eddie while he moved around and jumped and laughed, occasionally moving his feet and playing along when Eddie grabbed his hand and used it to twirl himself around.

Somewhere between Richie's sixth beer and a story about how Eddie, Ben and their other best friend Bill had once built a dam and flooded part of their town when they were kids, Ben and Beverly had approached them. They told Richie and Eddie that they were leaving together and that Richie might want to find a place to stay for the night.

“You can go to Stan and Mike's, I'm sure they won't mind” Bev said with an innocent smile before kissing Richie's cheek, grabbing Ben's arm and leaving the bar.

Richie glared at her, she seemed happy and Richie was glad but he was still going to kill her in the morning. That is, if Stan didn't kill him first, for waking him up in the middle of the night only to ask if he could crash at his and Mike's place. After years of friendship Richie had learned that you simply don't wake Stanley Uris up unless you're dying, and even then you'll still probably get yelled at for not choosing to die on a more convenient hour. _She'll owe me big for this_ , he thinks.

“You could also stay at my place? If you want?” Eddie had asked him after their friends had left the bar.

Richie glanced at him. Just like Richie himself, Eddie was drunk. His cheeks were pink, his eyes were glazed and he didn't seem to be able to stop moving or smiling. Richie thought he looked beautiful and he would be a fool not to want to go home with him. Still, there was a part of him, maybe a part that wasn't drunk on both alcohol and Eddie Kaspbrak, that told him that this thing between them was way too important to waste on a drunken one night stand and that he should leave by himself, sleep on Mike and Stan's couch and call Eddie in the morning, ask him out on a date, do this right.

In the end, they do leave together but only because Richie is worried Eddie won't make it back to his apartment without his help. He calls them a cab and gives the driver Eddie's apartment address.

When they get there, Richie is glad that there's an elevator in the building, because by now Eddie is dead on his feet and he wouldn't know how to get him to the fifth floor otherwise.

They go inside and Richie has approximately thirty seconds to admire the place before Eddie is rushing to what Richie guesses it’s the bathroom. He can hear Eddie throwing up and he knows he should be grossed out but his concern for Eddie beats anything else he might be feeling and he finds himself rushing towards the bathroom as well.

He finds Eddie on the floor and Richie's heart aches with how miserable he looks. He lifts his head and his eyes find Richie's and he groans.

“Oh my god, I can't believe you're seeing me like this. There goes any chance of getting a kiss from you tonight” He pouts after saying that and Richie's heart flutters with how adorable it makes him look. _The guy just threw up in his toilet and you find him cute, you are in so much trouble, Tozier_ , a voice in his head says.

“Sober you is going to murder drunk you for admitting you'd like me to kiss you” Richie said with a chuckle. He grabbed a glass from the bathroom sink, filled it with water and handed it to Eddie who groaned as a response.

He started drinking the water sip by sip as to not throw up again. Richie sat on the floor next to him and rubbed Eddie's back soothingly. Eddie smiled at him over his shoulder and for a moment Richie didn't feel drunk anymore, he felt stone-cold sober as he was hit with the thought that he could see himself falling in love with Eddie Kaspbrak.

So what if he had only known him for a few hours? So what if he wasn’t looking his best right now, his face propped up on the toilet seat while sitting on the bathroom floor? That didn’t change the fact that Eddie was the most beautiful boy Richie had ever seen or that talking to him felt like talking to someone he has known his entire life or that his smile alone made Richie's stomach do somersaults and completely forget about Heather in a way no one else could do, not even his closest friends.

 _Damn Richie, if I didn’t know any better, I'd say you love him already_ , a voice in his head that sounds suspiciously like Beverly says. _Well fuck me_ , his own voice answers, _I think I do_.

Eddie's groan snaps him out of it and he sees him trying to stand up and rushes to help him. Eddie lets him take most of his weight with a happy sigh and together they manage to take a few steps towards the door before Eddie stops him.

“I refuse to go to bed with vomit on my mouth, Richie” he said holding on to the sink and grabbing his toothbrush.

He brushed his teeth three times before he let Richie drag him to his bedroom, where he grabbed some clothes from his dresser and changed, after Richie turned around and intently studied the posters on Eddie's wall.

He cleared his throat to signal to Richie that it was safe to turn again and when he did, he saw Eddie struggling to drag back the covers of his bed. Richie helped him and he got in, by then all the excitement of the night had caught up with him and he was feeling real sleepy.

Richie went back to the bathroom and found some aspirins, he rinsed the glass Eddie had used and filled it with water again before placing both items on Eddie's bedside table. He also placed a small kiss on Eddie's forehead and turned to leave when Eddie mumbled something.

“What was that, Eds?”

“I did get a kiss from you tonight.” Richie froze, blushing at having been caught.

“Uh sorry, I um… I thought you were asleep. I was just leaving.”

“It's okay, I don't mind” Eddie said, his voice not more than a whisper, “you don't have to leave though, you can stay, I promise I won't try to do anything.”

“Well, where's the fun in that?” Richie said smirking. Then his smile softened, “I don't think it's a good idea for me to stay, you need to rest. I'll call you tomorrow morning” his head gave a painful throb in that moment and he added: “Actually I'll call you tomorrow afternoon, since I'll probably sleep the entire fucking day”.

“But you don't have my number” Eddie replied stubbornly. _There's that pout again_ , Richie thought, _if he does it again I might just end up staying_ _after all_.

“I'll tell Bev to ask Ben for it. Don't you worry, Eddie Spaghetti, this isn't the last you'll see of me” _Not if I have any say in it_ , he adds in his head.

“Okay, goodnight Richie” he says and his eyes are already closing when he adds, “and don't call me that”.

“Goodnight Eddie” Richie answers before walking out of the room and then the apartment.

He calls a cab for the second time that night and as it drives him to Stan and Mike's apartment he texts Beverly with a smile on his face.

 **I know you're probably busy right now ;) but I need you to ask Benny boy for Eddie** 's **number, tell him I promised the love of my life I'd call him**.

He's still smiling when he knocks on his friend's apartment door and not even Stan yelling at him and throwing a pillow at his face are enough to erase the silly smile from his face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Richie Tozier is dying to call Eddie Kaspbrak, aka the love of his life since last night, and ask him out on a date. But before he can do that, he has to explain to Stan and Mike why he ended up in their apartment and just how he went from a sulking mess to a love sick idiot in just one night. He must also convince Beverly to get him Eddie’s number. Not to mention get over his own doubts and nerves and actually call the kid.

When Richie went to sleep earlier that day, he planned on sleeping till noon to the very least, but Stan, Mike and their cat Noodles had a very different idea.

Richie knew his friends were morning people, and he had gotten used to sleeping through the noise of their morning routine after countless sleepovers in their years of friendship. What he was _not_ used to was having a cat mistake his legs for something he could sharpen his nails with.

Luckily for Richie he had been too tired last night to take off his pants before he fell asleep on the couch and Noodles’ nails did more damage to the fabric than to his skin. He still felt it though and, in an attempt to shake the cat off, he kicked at it with his legs making both him and Noodles fall from the couch, but whereas Noodles landed gracefully on the floor, Richie most definitely didn’t, hitting his elbow against the coffee table on his way down.

“Fucking hell!” he shouted, rubbing at his injured arm. He tried to stand up only to get tangled up in the blankets and fall again, hitting his head this time, “This is all your fault, you stupid cat.”

“I can hear you Richard, leave Noodles alone” he heard Stan say from the kitchen.

“Tell your evil hairball of a pet to leave _me_ alone then!”

“He is not evil. He is a sweetheart and he is harmless” Stan said.

“Harmless my ass, he was using my leg as his personal nail sharpener.”

“Well, you took over his couch so, can you blame him?”

“Sometimes I feel like you love this cat more than you love me, Stanley” Richie replied flatly while disentangling himself from the mess of blankets on the floor.

“More like, always” Stan answered. Richie could hear Mike laugh at that, “Especially considering said cat doesn’t wake me up in the middle of the night to ask if he can sleep over.”

“I already said I was sorry, if anything you should blame Beverly, she was the one who sexiled me” he said entering the kitchen. Stan was sitting on the counter sipping coffee from a mug, while Mike stood in front of the kitchen cooking breakfast, something delicious if the smell that filled the room was any indication, “Hiya, Mikey” he said and took a seat next to Stan.

“Hey Rich” Mike answered waving at him with the spatula.

“Even then” Stan replied, “you are to blame. If you had other friends you could’ve crashed at their place instead of ours.”

“Oh but who needs more friends when I already have you, Stan the man” Richie said throwing an arm around his friend’s shoulders and messily kissing his cheek.

“Uhh get off of me, you menace” said Stan, forcefully pushing Richie’s face away but failing to hide how the corners of his mouth were curling up in a smile.

 _“_ How about instead, you two get _off_ my counter and go sit on a chair, you know, like normal people?” Mike said.

 _“_ Aww Mikey. You should know by now we are nowhere near normal, ain’t that right, Stanny?” Richie joked but they did get off the counter.

They made small talk while Mike finished cooking and Richie and Stan helped set the table. Then, before they sat down together to eat, Richie went to the bathroom and searched through the cabinets until he found some ibuprofen and took it, he didn’t get hangovers anymore, two years of college and years of being friends with Beverly Marsh will do that to you, but sometimes he did wake up with a headache.

 _I wonder how Eds is feeling though_ , he thinks, _he seems like the kind of guy who does get hangovers after drinking too much, and he drank an awful lot last night_. The thought of Eddie and the memory of last night brings a smile to his face, something both Stan and Mike notice when he joins them at the table.

“Okay, spill, what happened last night” said Stan.

“What?”

“You have the exact same stupid smile as you did when you showed up.”

“Can’t I just be happy, Stan?” Richie replied trying to shrug it off but he could feel his cheeks starting to pink up.

“Yes, you can, but Beverly called me yesterday afternoon saying you were sulking over the Heather thing again” Richie flinched at the mention of her name and Stan smiled sympathetically before continuing, “she said you refused to talk to her or go out or even eat and yet, here you are not even 24 hours later smiling and joking and you expect me to believe nothing happened?”

Richie considered bullshitting his way out of this one, but these were two of his closest friends and truth be told he was dying to tell someone about Eddie, so he sighed and said instead, “Fine, you’re right.”

“Of course I am, I know you better than anyone” Stan replied smugly, “now spill.”

Mike added, “Yeah Rich, tell us”.

“Fine, you nosy losers. So, after hours of being annoying Bev managed to drag me out of the apartment last night and we went to this bar. Then the guy Bev has been gushing about, Ben, shows up, right? So, Bev wasn’t exaggerating when she talked to you, I was in a really shitty mood cause of the whole Heather thing so when she went to say hi to him I stayed behind, cause I didn’t feel like being around anyone. Except she didn’t only say hi, she sat down to talk to him some more. So I drank for a while but then, when I was about to leave, this guy and I swear to you, he was hands down the most gorgeous guy I’ve ever seen, just sits next to me.”

“Ah, everything is starting to make sense now” Mike said grinning.

“Yeah and turns out, he knows my name and at first I freak out a bit cause weird, right? But then he gets so flustered and nervous and tries to explain and turns out he’s Ben’s friend and he saw me walk in with Bev and figured if our friends were going to ditch us we might as well keep each other company” Richie is full on grinning by now and Mike and Stan are both giving him a knowing look, “so we talked, got to know each other, then Bev tells me she’s leaving with Ben and that I need to find a place to stay, and he, Eddie, says that I can stay at his apartment”.

“Wait, so if he invited you to stay over, why did you come here instead?”

“Patience, Stanley dear. I did go to his apartment but he was drunk, I mean so was I, but that’s not the point. The point is, he wasn’t feeling well so it didn’t feel right for me to stay there, let alone do anything with him, even though he did ask me to. Stay, that is. And to kiss him. Gosh you should have seen him, he was pouting and it was the cutest fucking thing ever and…”

“Richie.”

“Right, focus. So I helped him to bed and told him I’d call him today, maybe ask him on out a date? I mean, I didn’t tell him that but I really, _really_ want to ask him out. He’s just the most amazing guy and he’s _so_ beautiful and his eyes are so fucking pretty, you guys, and truth be told I think I might be in love with him” he finishes and there’s that silly smile again. He can see Stan opening his mouth to say something but before he can, he adds “I know what you’re going to say…”

“Oh do you?” said Stan with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, you’re going to say that I just met him and that I can’t be in love with him”

“Actually, I was gonna say I’m glad you met this guy and that he was able to cheer you up. No matter what I say, I hate seeing you all mopey and miserable.”

Both he and Mike stared at him and Stanley just shrugged as if saying ’What?’, then Richie said, “Hold me, Stanley I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me. In fact, I wish it was possible to screen shot a verbal conversation so that I could show it to you the next time you claim that you hate me.” The three of them laughed at that.

“When are you going to call him?” Mike asked.

“Well I need his number first” he said “don’t worry, I already told Bev to ask Ben for it, I just don’t think she has seen the message yet. Can’t blame her though, if it had been me getting laid last night I wouldn’t have read my messages either.”

As if on cue Richie’s phone rang. He went to get it and found Bev’s response to the text he sent her the night before.

 ** _Bev:_** Love of your life, huh? Aren't you getting a little bit ahead of yourself there buddy?

 ** _Richie:_** Uh no, he is the love of my life

He just doesn’t know it yet

 ** _Bev:_** Is that why he didn’t give you his number?

 ** _Richie:_** No, he didn’t give me his number because he was drunk and fell asleep before I could ask him for it.

 ** _Bev:_** Wait, so you did leave with him? I thought you went to Stan and Mike's.

Mike texted me saying that if Stan killed you, it was my fault for wanting to get laid.

Which reminds me, thank you for telling them, asshole.

 ** _Richie:_** You never said I couldn’t tell them? And I had to defend myself if I was to survive Stan’s wrath.

But yeah, I did leave with Eddie.

But I also went to their apartment.

 ** _Bev:_** ??? That explains literally nothing.

 ** _Richie:_** It's a long story, they can fill you in later.

RIGHT NOW I NEED YOU TO GET ME EDDIE'S NUMBER, WOMAN.

 ** _Bev:_** You exposed me to them, why should I help you?

 ** _Richie:_** Because you love me.

AND BECAUSE I'LL KILL YOU IF YOU GET BETWEEN ME AND MY LOVE.

No, but seriously Bev I really like him and I want to ask him out and date him and love him.

Please <3

 ** _Bev:_** Fine.

But only because Ben saw your texts and he thinks it's cute you like Eddie so much.

 ** _Richie:_** TELL BEN I FUCKING LOVE HIM.

 **Bev:** (215) 509-6995

 ** _Richie:_** YOU ARE THE FUCKING BEST, BEVERLY MARSH  <3

 ** _Bev:_** I know.

Now go get your man ;)

Richie saved the number under ’Eds <3’ and returned to the kitchen. Mike and Stan were cleaning up, so he joined them, all the while thinking what he was going to say to Eddie when he called him.

After they were done with the cleanup, Mike and Stan invited Richie to hang out with them. _I can always call Eds later,_ he thought, _he’s probably still asleep_ , so he said yes and stayed at their apartment. A few hours later he said his goodbyes, promised to tell them how everything turned out with Eddie and head back home.

Once he was there, Bev and Ben nowhere to be found, he took a shower and figured he might as well get some work done. He knew he was putting off calling Eddie but he told himself he was giving him time to recover from his imminent hangover, but the truth was that he was nervous, it had been a while since he had felt like this with anyone, especially someone he had just met and he was afraid of somehow ruining it before it even started.

After hours of stalling, he finally forced himself to grab the phone and dial Eddie’s number, he almost hung up especially because it was a while before Eddie answered and when he did answer Richie almost dropped the phone.

“Hello?”

“Eds! Hi!”

“Richie?” He heard the surprise in Eddie’s voice and he felt bad for not calling him earlier, it was clear he thought Richie wasn’t going to.

“The one and only. Sorry I didn’t call you earlier Eds”

“That’s okay” he didn’t sound convinced though.

“It’s just… I was a bit nervous I guess” Richie explained.

“Why would you be nervous?” Eddie asked, confused.

“I didn’t know if you actually wanted me to call you? I thought maybe last night was just the alcohol in you talking” Until he said it aloud Richie hadn’t realized it was true, he was worried that maybe sober Eddie didn’t like him as much as drunk Eddie had seemed to.

“Hey, you don’t have to be nervous. As embarrassed as I am for saying what I said… I meant all of it. I’m really glad you called, Richie.” He said softly and Richie smiled.

“Me too. I missed your voice, Eddie Spaghetti” and before Eddie could say something about the nickname, he added, “How are you feeling?”

“Oh, uh I’m good. I slept a lot, so. Bill actually checked of I was alive when he got home around noon and saw I wasn’t up yet” he chuckled, “and when I woke up I did have this horrible headache but the aspirins you left out for me helped, so thanks for that and, you know, everything else.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Eds” he said sincerely, “I’m just glad you’re all better now”.

“I do, and I also feel like I have to apologize to you. I’m sorry you had to see all of... that” Richie could practically hear the grimace in Eddie’s voice.

“Eds, stop worrying. It’s not the first time nor the last time I’ll have to deal with drunken sick people” he assured him, “ and I can promise you none of them were as adorable as you, so really it was my pleasure”.

“Oh God, please stop” Eddie said but he was laughing, “I am _not_ adorable, and definitely not while laying sick on the bathroom floor”.

“Sorry babe, I meant what I said. Not even vomit can stop you from being attractive” he said and he knew that by now Eddie was probably blushing like crazy both at the nickname and what Richie said. _God, I wish I could see his face right now_ , he thinks.

“You’re an idiot” Eddie replied and Richie smiled at the fondness with which he said it.  

They both felt silent after that, it wasn’t an awkward silence but it made both of them anxious, they wanted to keep the conversation going but they didn’t know what to say. _C_ _’mon Tozier, they don’t call you Trashmouth for nothing, just say something_ , Richie said to himself.

“Uh, so I got attacked by a cat today” _Seriously, out of all the things, that_ _’s what you choose to say?_

“You… what?” Eddie asked and he seemed to not know if he should take this seriously or if it was some joke.

“Stan and Mike’s cat, Noodles, attacked me. You would think a cat with a name like that would be a sweetheart but the truth is that he’s the spawn of Satan and he fucking hates me.”

Eddie chuckled, Richie could be so dramatic, “What happened?”

“He thought my leg was one of those things cats use to scratch their nails on?”

“A scratching post?”

Richie pauses, “is that what they’re called?”

“I think so”

“Huh, interesting. Anyways yeah, he did that.”

“Did he hurt you?”

“I mean, he messed up my jeans and when I tried to defend myself I fell from the couch and hit the coffee table, but I lived.”

Eddie exploded in laughter at that, Richie would have been offended if it wasn’t the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. Eventually, his laughter dissolved into giggles and Richie was sure he was going to die with how cute Eddie sounded.

“That sounds awful, I’m glad you made it out alive” Eddie said, still giggling.

“You don’t sound so concerned” Richie said with fake offense.

“Oh no, I am. I know cats can be dangerous.”

“Oh yeah? You ever been attacked by one?”

“Not attacked, but I used to be really allergic to them and there was this one time where I ended up in the hospital after Bill and I rescued a lost kitten from the rain and took him to his house” he explained.

“Seriously? Just picturing that is giving me a fucking cavity Eds, it’s too fucking sweet” A small Eddie carrying an even smaller kitten under the rain? _Yeah, definitely the most adorable thing ever._

Eddie snorts and Richie can hear someone call his name in the background.

“Hold on a second, Rich” he tells him and then there are muffled voices, Eddie’s and some other guy’s, their conversation lasts a couple of seconds and then he’s back on the phone. “Sorry, that was Bill, I’m supposed to drive him to work and he has to go in a bit earlier than usual”.

“Oh. So you have to go?” Richie says, and tries to keep the disappointment out of his voice but fails miserably.

“Unfortunately” Richie took comfort in the fact that Eddie sounded just as upset as him to end the phone call, “But, uh, we could text? I mean, not while I’m driving of course, but you can text me and I’ll answer as soon as I can. If you want, that is.”

“Can’t get enough of me, can you, Spaghetti?” Richie joked, but the idea of continuing to talk to Eddie, even if it was through texts, excited him.

“Oh shut up, I could practically hear you pouting when I told you I had to go” Eddie replied in defense.

“You got me there” Richie admits. _No point in denying it,_ he thinks.

There’s silence again and Richie hears who he guesses is Bill calling Eddie’s name.

“Shit, I really have to go Rich”

“Fine. But can I ask you something first?”

“You just did” He can hear the smirk in Eddie’s voice.

“Don’t be a smartass” he says but he’s laughing, “so, I wanted to know, if, you know, if maybe you would like to, I don’t know, go out? With me? Like, on a date?” He face palms at how that came out. _Real fucking smooth, Tozier._

Eddie doesn’t answer right away and Richie starts to panic. He’s trying to decide whether he should apologize or just hang up, when Eddie answers, “I’d love to.”

“Oh, thank fuck” Richie exhales and both of them start laughing giddily.

It’s Eddie who talks first and he says, “Listen, Rich, Bill is one second away from stealing my car and driving himself to work so I really have to go, but let’s discuss the details over texts, okay?”

“Sure thing, Eds” Richie answers and he’s smiling so much his face is starting to hurt. Richie is glad he didn’t make this call while still on Mike and Stan’s apartment or with Beverly around, he would be in for so much teasing if he had.

“Great! Talk to you soon then” Eddie said.

“Bye, Eddie” He says and hangs up after Eddie’s small “Bye”.

He sits there, on his bed for a couple of minutes, still smiling. Then he opens the group chat he has with Beverly, Stan and Mike and types a message.

**Guess who has a date with the most adorable boy in the history of forever?**

And before either of them can answer, he sends second message.

**That’s fucking right, you losers, it’s me!**

Then he opens a new chat and texts Eddie, eager to start planning their first date.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Richie is struggling with the planning of his date, Beverly comes to his aid and him and Eddie are the cutest boys ever, all excited about seeing each other again.

Since the day of their first call, Richie and Eddie had talked to each other constantly, whether through texts or through phone calls. That very same day, Richie texted him right after hanging up and they talked till later that night when Richie fell asleep immediately after getting home from his shift at the radio station. When he woke up the next day, he texted Eddie, apologizing for falling asleep on him and they resumed their conversation from the night before.

Even though part of the reason why Eddie told Richie to text him after talking on the phone was to discuss the details of their upcoming date, they talked about everything except that.

When Eddie tried approaching the subject, Richie just said that he was going to take care of everything and that all Eddie had to worry about was getting his cute little butt ready on time for Richie to pick him up on Saturday. Eddie was reluctant at first, he didn’t like surprises and he didn’t want to end up going somewhere he wouldn’t enjoy and ruining the date because it got him in a bad mood, but Richie was being awfully stubborn about it, saying he was the one who asked Eddie out and therefore should be the one to plan the whole thing, so he agreed in the end.

Now Richie was regretting his decision. Not asking Eddie out on a date, that is probably the best thing he has done in his life so far, but saying he would be responsible for planning it? That, he most definitely regret.

He had no idea what to do. Well, that wasn’t entirely true, he had a lot of ideas but none of them seemed good enough and if there was one thing he was sure of was that he wanted everything to be perfect.

Right now he was in his bedroom, with an open notebook over his crossed legs. On its pages Richie would scribble down whatever idea for a first date that came to his head, only to cross it out after not liking it enough.

Drinks at a bar? Been there, done that. Dinner at a fancy restaurant? Too cliché, not to mention they were both college students, and even if both of them had jobs they didn’t have enough money to be expending it on teeny tiny sized portions of food. Bowling? Roller skating? He wasn’t really trying to embarrass himself in front of Eddie or end up at the ER for falling down on his face and breaking his nose or dropping a bowling ball on his foot and breaking his toe, both of which had happened to him before. Games at the arcade? Lame as fuck for a first date. Stroll down the park? There is only so much walking they can do and they’d be back at their respective homes after only an hour or so. Movie Theater? Not much chance for talking. A picnic? Carnival? Coffee date?

Richie groaned irritated, he threw the notebook against the wall and let himself fall backwards on his bed.

“Why is this so fucking hard?” he muttered, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes with his hands.

He heard the door open but he didn’t open his eyes nor did he sit back down.

“Homework giving you a hard time?” Beverly asked. Richie felt her sit down on the edge of his bed and place a hand on his ankle.

“This is actually worse than homework” he replied, supporting himself on his elbows to look at her, but without his glasses on, all he was able to see was a blurry mess of colors where Beverly should have been, “I have absolutely no idea where to take Eddie on our first date.”

He didn’t need to be able to see Bev’s face clearly to know she was eyeing him skeptically. He saw her stand up and grab what Richie guessed was the notebook he had thrown away in frustration. She sat down again, this time on Richie’s desk chair.

“These aren’t bad ideas, Rich” she said, Richie grabbed his glasses and put them on. He saw her frown, “not all of them at least. Shopping mall, Richie? Really?”

“Trust me, I fucking know. But I’ve been at this for hours and every idea I manage to come up with is as bad as the last one. I’m kind of desperate at this point, Marsh” he said with a frown of his own, falling back on the bed again.

“You need to relax. It’s just a first date, honey, it’s not like you’re planning to propose” she said, shaking her head.

He sat up and with all seriousness he said, “No, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want it to be perfect. He deserves an amazing first date, Bev, and I want to give it to him.”

Beverly was looking at him with a soft smile on her face, making Richie fidget under her stare.

“What?” He asked her.

“Nothing, I just… I’ve never seen you like this, Rich, not with anyone.”

“Yeah well, I’ve never felt this way with anyone before.” She was still looking at him in _that_ way, so he added, “Stop looking at me like that!”

She laughed, “I just think it’s cute” Richie rolled his eyes and before he got the chance to reply she continued, “Fine, I’ll stop. I still think you are giving this way too much thought” she said.

Richie groaned. “What do you think I should do then?”

“You need to think about what Eddie likes, you two have been talking nonstop these past few days, you must know some of those things by now”.

“Well, yeah but I don’t… wait, how do you know we’ve been talking?” He asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

“Oh please” she says, rolling her eyes, “You get all excited whenever you get a text and then there’s that stupid smile you get when you are texting back. Not to mention, last night you locked yourself up in here for like an hour and I could hear you talking and laughing through the door.”

“You’re listening to me through the door, Marsh? What if I was doing something more R-rated than talking on the phone?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows at her.

“As gross as that would be, it wouldn’t be the first time that has happened to me” she said with a grimace, “Anyways, there’s also the fact that yesterday you made us walk back from the subway station to the apartment, even though we were already late for our classes, once you found out you had forgotten your phone because ’Jesus fuck, Beverly, what if someone texts me? What will they think if I don’t answer’?” she said, mocking Richie. He rolled his eyes at her but he could feel himself starting to blush. _Holy shit, she’s right. I’ve been acting like a 13 year-old with a crush_ , he thinks.

“Fuck off, like you are any better when it comes to Ben” he replies and the reaction is instantaneous, Beverly’s eyes widen and she blushes furiously like she always does whenever he, Stan or Mike bring Ben up.

They both stay silent, embarrassed and looking everywhere except at each other. Eventually, Richie clears his throat and talks.

“He likes animals.”

Beverly must have spaced out, because she looks confused when she asks, “What?”

“Eds. Eddie. He likes animals. His mother didn’t let him have pets when he was a kid because he had a bunch of allergies, so he would spend a lot of his time learning about them, he read books and watched Animal Planet every night before bed. He told me there was this one time when they took his class to an aquarium. It took a lot to convince his mom to let him go, she’s kind of overbearing and was worried he would get sick or something. He told me that in the end she only let him go, because Bill’s mom, Bill is one of his best friends, volunteered to go and promised Eddie’s mom she would look after him. He says that trip is still one of his favorite memories” he doesn’t look at Beverly while saying this, he’s playing with a loose thread on his bed and smiling at the memory of Eddie telling him that story over the phone.

“There was one thing that prevented the day from being perfect though. Parents had to sign an extra permit if they wanted to allow their kids to feed the otters but Eddie’s mom didn’t sign it, so he had to stay back while his classmates fed and played with them. He was devastated, they’re his favorite animals, the otters, he told me that”, he recounts.

“That’s so fucking cute” Beverly said with a smile.

“Yeah, I know, I told him that too.”

They fall silent again and Richie is startled when Beverly straightens in the chair, grabs Richie’s laptop and starts typing.

“The hell are you doing, Bev?” Richie asks but she only gestures at him to keep quiet and keeps typing.

He’s about to ask her again what has gotten into her when she stands up, computer in hand and turns to look at him. She has a crazy look on her face and Richie eyes her warily, usually he is the one giving Beverly that look right before dragging her alone to do something brilliant or stupid, most of the times is the latter. He’s not used to being on the other end of that look, it’s somewhat terrifying.

“Okay, you’re freaking me out Bev. What’s going on?”

“Oh nothing, I just had the perfect idea for your date with Eddie.”

Richie raises an eyebrow expectantly but she just stays where she is and says nothing. Richie sighs, “Well? Are you going to tell me or just stare at me like some crazy woman?”

Instead of answering, she puts the computer on his lap and points at the screen where the results for what she typed are showing.

Richie’s eyes scan the computer and he takes a moment to feel stupid for not thinking about this himself. Then he looks at Beverly and her grin is just as big as his.

“Beverly Marsh, you are a fucking genius” he says.

“What can I say? I try” She says with a shrug, then while pointing at the computer screen she adds, “Click there for more information.”

Richie looks back at the computer and clicks on the link like Bev said. And as he does, all he can think is, _Eddie Spaghetti, get ready for the best first date of your life._

-♥-

“You’re still not going to tell me?” Richie hears Eddie ask through the phone.

“Nope” he answers. He is currently in the kitchen, making dinner. He’s making spaghetti and meatballs, and Eddie already threatened to hang up on him if he made one more joke about it.

Richie always loved to cook, and to everyone’s surprise, he was actually really good at it, so good that he used to be the designated cook in his circle of friends, meaning him, Bev and Stan before they met Mike.

After the first time they tried Mike’s food, they all agreed he was a better cook than Richie. That didn’t mean he stopped cooking for them, he liked doing it and they encouraged it. Last Christmas, they had gotten Richie an apron with the words “Kiss the cook” written on the front, only before giving it to him, they had crossed out the word kiss and wrote ’Fuck’ instead, Bev’s idea. Richie had laughed like crazy after seeing it and had put it on immediately. He was actually wearing that apron right now.

“I already told you, I hate surprises.”

“Well my dear Eddie Spaghetti, you are going to have to suck it up” he said “I am not telling you anything other than ’Be ready at 11:00 on Saturday and make sure you wear those shorts you wore on the day we met’.”

Eddie sighed, “Fine, I hate you.”

“No, you don’t, babe, don’t lie” he said.

Even though he had the phone on speaker he could hear Eddie let out a little squeak, caught off guard by the pet name, even though Richie had been using it more and more when they talked. He couldn’t wait to call him that to his face and see his reaction in person.

“Richie?” he heard him ask in a small voice.

“Yeah?”

“I just… I’m really looking forward to our date, that’s all” he said shyly, “even if you won’t tell me what we are doing.”

The confession caught Richie off guard, so much that he spilled more oil in the pan than he meant to, which made some of it splash his arm, burning him.

“Fuck! Shit, fuck, fuck, fuck!” he screamed in pain, while running towards the sink and putting his arm under the running water.

“Richie? Oh my God, are you okay?” he heard Richie asked, alarmed.

“I’m fine, Eds. It’s nothing.”

“That was a lot of yelling for nothing.”

“I might have… burned my arm a little? Some of the hot oil splashed me. But it’s okay now.”

“Are you sure?”

“One hundred percent, don’t you worry your pretty little head about it” he said, turning off the water, it still hurt a bit but it was bearable.

“Okay… I don’t understand why your friends let you anywhere near the kitchen with no supervision though” chuckled Eddie.

“Hey, I have everything under control here.”

“Uh huh, forgive me if I don’t believe you after what just happened, Rich.”

“That wasn’t my fault! You distracted me with your… your flirting!”

“I wasn’t flirting!” Eddie yelled, “I was just… uh… you’re the one who is always flirting!”

“You say that like I’m trying to be subtle about it” Richie answered and the smirk was evident on his voice.

He could practically hear Eddie trying to think of something to say that would take this conversation in a different direction, but he didn’t seemed to be able to come up with anything.

Luckily for Eddie, Stan, Mike and Bev chose that exact moment to barge into the apartment.

“Damn, it smells amazing in here!” he heard Mike say.

“Richie?” That was Bev.

“No, Beverly, I’m pretty sure that’s just some murderer who decided to have some dinner while he waited for someone to kill” And _that_ was definitely Stan. He heard Mike laughed and what sounded like Beverly punching Stan in the arm.

“Stan the man gets off a good one!” Richie yelled while grabbing his phone and taking it off speaker, “Hey, Eds, you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m here. I’m guessing you have to go now.”

“I can stay on the line some more.”

“No, no, your friends are there, you should go talk to them.”

“But I want to talk to you too.”

“Rich, we’ve been talking for” he paused and Richie guessed he was looking at his phone screen, “48 minutes.” _Wow, I didn’t even notice it had been that long_ , he thinks, Eddie continues, “Aren’t you getting tired of listening to my voice?”

“Never” he answers. He doesn’t want to hang up, but Eddie is right, his friends are there and soon enough they will invade the kitchen looking for food and it’s going to be impossible to hold a conversation with them if he’s still on the phone, “But you’re right, I should go. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, Rich, I should try and get some homework done anyways.”

“Hey Eds?” Eddie hums so Richie knows that he is listening, “You’re not the only one who is looking forward to our date, you know? I really can’t fucking wait to see that cute face of yours again.”

He hears Eddie groan and he panics when he thinks he might have gone too far, especially when he says, “You know what I am _not_ looking forward to?” Fortunately, before Richie can freak out, Eddie answers his own question, “You being able to see how much I fucking blush whenever you say things like that.”

Richie laughs out loud and Eddie joins him. “Oh but Eddie, that is my favorite fucking thing.”

“Yeah, yeah, goodbye Trashmouth.”

 _I knew telling Eds about that particular nickname was going to come back to bite me in the ass_ , he thinks. “Bye, Eddie Spaghetti” he says and Eddie ends the call after a half-hearted “Don’t call me that.”

He puts the phone down and turns around, there standing in front of him on the doorway are Beverly, Mike and Stan staring at him.

“How long have you three nosy losers been standing there?” he asks.

“Long enough to witness what is probably the gayest phone call of all times” Stan answers and the three of them start laughing and imitating Richie horribly.

“Oh Eddie Spaghetti I love you.”

“I don’t ever want to stop talking to you.”

“I’m counting down the days to see your angelic face again.”

Richie glares at them but he can feel his face burn in embarrassment.

“You fuckers are just jealous” He grumbles while flipping them off. For some reason that only makes his friends laugh even more. He leaves the kitchen to go and hide in the bathroom until his face recovers its natural pale color but their laughter follows him.

He feels his phone vibrate in his hand from a new text, he sees its Eddie’s and rushes to unlock the phone so he can read it. He is glad he is no longer in the kitchen because the way he is smiling just because of the fact that Eds texted him would have earned him even more teasing.

Turns out the message is actually a picture, on it Richie sees Eddie’s desk, there are books, sheets of paper and a bunch of pens, in one corner there is a package of Oreo cookies and a glass of milk. The caption for the picture says:

**Compared to your dinner, mine is pretty lame.**

**I’m happy we talked. Goodnight, Rich.**

**-Your very own Spaghetti :)**

**PS: Only I get to make those jokes. If you try, you die.**

Richie practically whines at the adorableness that is Eddie Kaspbrak. He guesses some teasing from his friends is a small price to pay for talking to, and hopefully in a near future, dating a guy like him.

He takes a quick selfie and sends it to him, with the caption “Goodnight, you cutie” and almost immediately he gets another picture, this time of Eddie smiling at him through the camera. _Yeah,_ he thinks _, that face is most definitely worth all the teasing in the world._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter was supposed to be about Richie and Eddie’s first date, but I got carried away and by the time I realized this was over 3000 words long, I hadn’t even started writing about the date itself. So here is this sort of ’in between’ chapter. I promise that the next one will be about their first date, FOR REAL. 
> 
> Thank you all for reading this story. As usual, I’d love to know what you think <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the awaited first date between Eddie and Richie finally takes place.

Richie Tozier woke up early on Saturday to get ready for his date. He made himself some breakfast and took a long shower, but when he went to get dressed, he realized he had absolutely no idea what to wear. He knew he was being ridiculous, it’s not like they were going somewhere fancy or anything and he had a lot of clothes to choose from, but his friends didn’t call him dramatic for nothing.

He had few options on what to do, he could call Stan or Mike and ask for their advice, they were surely awake by now or… he could wake Beverly up. He didn’t want to do that, the thought alone made him flinch, Bev was whole heartedly against waking up early on the weekends, even more so than Richie himself. They had some sort of agreement where, if they had to wake up early for some reason, they had to be as quiet as possible so as to not wake the other person up, they usually managed to do it but on the times they didn’t, it could get pretty ugly.

Remembering the last time that had happened and how he had ended up with a bruised shin from Beverly kicking him, he figured it was safest to just call his other friends.

As luck would have it, neither Mike nor Stan picked up though. He called them three times each but nothing. _What the fuck could they possibly be doing so early on a Saturday?_ He thought as he tried calling their house phone.

“This is Stan and Mike’s voicemail, we can’t come to the phone right now, but leave a message and we will get back to you” he heard Mike’s voice say before the beep. Richie groaned and hung up.

He went through the mess of clothes on his bed and closet and floor, hoping he wouldn’t have to resort to asking Beverly for help but came up with nothing. So, he walked to her room and stood in front of her door, taking a deep breath before knocking.

“Bev, I’m so sorry for waking you up but I need your help” Nothing, he knocked on the door a bit louder, “Bevvy? The peanut butter to my jelly? The cheese to my macaroni? The… the salt to my pepper? The…” He stopped abruptly when the door opened and an angry looking Beverly Marsh stood in front of him.

“What in the shit could you possibly fucking need at” she turned to check her bedside clock, “nine thirty in the fucking morning on a Saturday, Richard?” she growled.

“I…. uh… Have I ever told you how radiant you look in the morning; Bev, darling?” He said with a nervous smile. He wasn’t lying, Bev was always radiant but right now she looked more murderous than anything.

She narrowed her eyes at him and went to close the door on his face.

“Wait!” he yelled and stopped the door with his hands, “my date with Eddie is in a couple of hours and I am trying to figure out what to wear, but I can’t. And I know I’m acting like a 12 year-old here but this is important to me. I’m so sorry for waking you up, I tried calling Stan and Mike but they’re both MIA. Please, Bev, I need you.”

She closes her eyes, taking a deep breath, probably counting to ten as a way of not killing Richie right there and then.

“Fine. I’ll help. But you’ll owe me for this, Tozier” she said while pushing past him and heading towards the kitchen, probably looking for coffee. Richie was glad he made enough for the both of them, there is only so much Beverly was willing to forgive him for.

Even though she glared at him the entire time, Bev was actually a big help. In the end, they decided on his nicest pair of ripped jeans, a white band t-shirt, a black and blue plaid shirt, unbuttoned and with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of white converse.

He knew he could have chosen these clothes himself, he was sure he had worn that same combination before, but it was nice knowing Beverly approved.

With her help he was ready by nine thirty. He still had over an hour left before he had to go, which he spent sitting on the couch with Bev, watching some cartoons, because there was nothing else on the TV.

“You wanna know why there’s only cartoons playing, Rich? Because only overexcited children watch TV this early on a Saturday” Bev had said, while he handed her another cup of coffee. They sat in silence, letting out the occasional chuckle, because no matter what Bev said, she loved cartoons.

Richie had been feeling nervous since he woke up that morning, but the more he sat there, the more his nerves increased and the more anxious and jittery he felt. He could see Beverly occasionally glance at him, probably annoyed at the way his legs would make the couch shake with it’s bouncing or the noise his car keys made when he moved them around in his hands, but she never said anything.

When it was finally time to leave, he was feeling like a complete mess, his throat felt dry, he was sweating and he felt like his stomach was in knots.

Beverly must have noticed because before he could leave, she had reached for his hands and looked him in the eye before she said, “You have nothing to be nervous about, Rich. This may be your first date, but you already know each other and have talked to each other and he likes you, okay? So, just be yourself and have fun. Show Eddie a real good time.”

He took a deep breath and nodded, she was right, they had been talking for an entire week and they got along great so, nothing to worry about. _Just be yourself and have fun_ , he repeated in his head.

“Thank you, Bev” he said with a smile. Richie kissed her cheek goodbye, grabbed his wallet and cellphone and left the apartment.

He had told Eddie he remembered the way to his apartment from their cab ride last week, after all he hadn’t been _that_ drunk. Now, he is glad Eddie didn’t believe him and insisted on texting him the address, because he might have trusted his drunken memory more than he should have.

Once he gets there he texts Eddie to let him know and he answers with a text of his own, saying he will be down soon. Richie gets out of the car and leans against it to wait for him. Less than five minutes later he sees Eddie exit the building and start walking towards him.

Richie’s memory of Eddie definitely did not do him justice, he was so much more beautiful than he remembered. Today, he was wearing black shorts, not the same he had worn last week but he looked just as good in them, a white polo shirt with red and black stripes and white socks and sneakers. He hadn’t seen Richie yet, he was looking down, putting away his keys inside the fanny pack around his waist. _A fucking fanny pack, could he get anymore cute?_ He thinks.

Eddie finally looks up and spots Richie, he smiles brightly at him and Richie feels himself choke on air at how handsome he looks. _How in the hell did I score a date with this kid?_

Richie smiles back and then he is panicking because he doesn’t know how they are supposed to greet each other. Do they shake hands? Hug? Wave awkwardly at each other?

He doesn’t get to make a decision on that matter though because when Eddie finally reaches him, he stands on his tiptoes and kisses Richie’s cheek.

“Hi, Rich” he says taking a small step back. His cheeks are a bit pink but nothing compared to Richie’s, which are bright red and burning hot, especially where Eddie kissed him. He is staring wide eyed at him and he is so flustered it’s not even funny.

“Uh… hey. Um… yeah, hi Eds” He struggles to say. Then he clears his throat and adds, “How is my Eddie Spaghetti?” in a somewhat more composed manner.

Eddie scrunches up his nose, “God, there’s that nickname again” he says but the corners of his mouth still curl up in a smile, “I am good, what about you?”

“Better now that I’ve seen your adorable face and that cute as fuck outfit you’re wearing” Richie says with a wink and Eddie rolls his eyes but he blushes a bit too. Then in a more serious tone he adds, “You really do look great, Eds.”

“You look pretty good yourself, Trasmouth” Eddie says with a shy smile, looking up at Richie.

 _God, we are both nervous wrecks right now_ , he thinks, _you would think talking nonstop for a week would take some of the anxiety away but it’s like we are meeting for the first time._

“So, you finally going to tell me where you are taking me?” Eddie asks for the hundredth time.

And for the hundredth time Richie replies, that no, he is not telling Eddie a thing.

Eddie pouts, and it makes Richie melt, but he made it this far without telling him and he’ll be damned if he spills it now, so he just opens the passenger door for Eddie and gestures for him to get in.

“Your carriage awaits, Eddie my love, smile, because you and I are going on an adventure” he says in a British accent so awful it makes Eddie laugh.

Once they are both in the car, Richie looks at his date and asks, still with the silly accent, “you ready, darlin’?”

Eddie looks at him and humors him by saying in an accent himself, “Drive away, dear” and with a smile Richie does just that.

Last night he had memorized the route so as to not ruin the surprise by having to look for directions on Google Maps. It’s a short ride, less than twenty minutes, and they make small talk while Eddie looks around trying to figure out where Richie is taking him.

“You _really_ don’t like surprises, do you, Eds?” he chuckles and Eddie just shrugs his shoulders.

When Richie makes the final turn and the place they are going to comes into view, Eddie sits upright on his seat and gawks at the huge sign that has the words “Adventure Aquarium” written on it.

“You fucking didn’t” he says and he’s smiling so wide it distracts Richie so much that he almost rolls over a woman pushing a stroller across the street.

He chuckles, “Oh but I did. You sounded so excited when you told me about your trip to the aquarium, that I figured you would like this” he pauses and adds, “You _do_ like it right? It’s not childish or anything. Shit, it is, isn’t it? I knew I should have just… taken you to the movies or something like that.”

Eddie places his hand on the other boy’s knee and smiles at him in a way it leaves Richie gasping for air.

“Rich, I freaking love it, okay? This is the best surprise ever”, he says and Richie relaxes.

They find a spot to park and walk to the main entrance, Richie holding their tickets in his hands. Eddie is practically bouncing with excitement and Richie makes a mental note to get Beverly something extra nice for her birthday for coming up with this great idea.

Once they are inside, they make their way through different exhibits and attractions. Richie has never been to an aquarium before so he finds himself getting excited over the hippos and the sharks and the fish from Finding Nemo. Eddie might have been to one before but it was a long time ago and he is just as excited as if it was the first time.

While they walk they talk about different things. They talk about their jobs and their friends, Eddie tells Richie about the project he is working on for his physiology class, and he listens when Richie explains how he still hasn’t decided if he wants to major in physics or engineering. Every once in a while Eddie will blurt out some random fact about the animals they see and then proceed to get all flustered at how dorky it must sound, even though Richie insists he finds them really interesting and the fact that Eddie knows them at all, extremely endearing.

They were at the penguin’s exhibit now, watching the African Penguins. Richie was surprised when he saw that there was no snow or ice, he didn’t know there were penguins who could live on warm climates. He said so to Eddie, who of course knew they existed.

“They live in colonies on the coast and islands of southern Africa” he said, before he chuckled and added, “Did you know they are called jackass penguins? Because they make this weird sounds, donkey-like braying sounds to communicate.”

Richie did not know that, but listening to the penguins right now, it made sense. They do sound like a braying donkey.

He looks at the other boy and smiles mischievously, making Eddie’s eyes widen once he realizes what Richie is about to do, but before he can do anything to stop him, Richie opens his mouth and starts braying like a donkey himself, as loud as he can.

Eddie covers his face with his hands in embarrassment but soon enough he is doubling over with laughter. That is all the encouragement Richie needs to carry on making those awful noises. By now, the people around them are staring, some in annoyance but most of them in amusement, there are a few kids around and, like Eddie, they find Richie’s antics hilarious. Some of them, to their parent’s dismay, actually start copying him.

“Oh my god, Richie, stop” Eddie says between giggles, he is in tears by now and holding on to Richie’s arm for support, “please stop, my stomach hurts” he wheezes.

Richie stops and supports Eddie by placing a hand on his side while he recovers. Eddie looks breathtakingly beautiful right now, the corners of his eyes crinkled, his face flushed from laughter. Richie realizes that he doesn’t care how badly he has to embarrass himself, he’d do anything to make Eddie laugh like this.

“You’re so embarrassing, oh my God” Eddie says, and he is still a little out of breath, “Everyone is staring at us.”

“Trust me, they are only staring because you laughing like that is the most beautiful sight” he says, and squeezes Eddie’s side.

“No, they are staring because you are crazy and they think you belong in a mental hospital, you dork” he giggles.

“The only crazy I am, is crazy for you” he says and Eddie snorts, he grabs Richie’s hand and pulls him away from where people are still looking at them.

“C’mon Romeo, all that laughing made me hungry. Let’s go grab some lunch.”

Richie doesn’t answer because he was rendered speechless by Eddie holding his hand and not letting go even after it was clear Richie was right behind him. _Crazy for him indeed_ , he thinks, with a silly smile.

They find a café, where Richie orders a Philly cheesesteak and Eddie gets chicken tenders and fries. Eddie insists on paying for the food, since Richie had bought them the tickets. He only agreed after Eddie promised to let him buy them some ice cream later.

They sit down and eat in comfortable silence. Richie steals some of Eddie’s fries and even though the smaller boy glares at him, he angles his plate so that it’s easier for Richie to grab some more if he wants.

“So, we’ve seen the hippos, the sharks, the giant octopus, the eels, what else?”

“Nemo” Richie answers after swallowing a bite of his sandwich, “and Dory.”

“Right, a bunch of different types of fish and the seahorses too, what are we missing?”

“Um… the turtles, they have at least three different species, I read some of them were rescued from the coasts. There’s also the stingrays and the piranhas and…. One last surprise I have for you” he finishes with a smirk.

“Wait, what? Another surprise?” Eddie asks alarmed, making Richie chuckle.

“Uh huh and before you ask what it is, know that I’m _not_ going to tell you” he says pointing at him with a stolen French fry.

Eddie is about to argue, when his phone starts ringing. He opens his fanny pack, takes it out and frowns.

“It’s Bill” he says, confused, “Do you mind if I answer?”

“Of course not, go ahead.”

“I’ll make it quick, I promise” he stood up and Richie heard him greet Bill before he walked through the door.

Richie took the chance to check his own phone, he had been so focused on Eddie and the animals, it hadn’t even crossed his mind all day. He replied to some texts and checked a Facebook notification, while he ate his food and finished Eddie’s fries. Then he noticed the time and his eyes widened. It was already 3 o’clock in the afternoon, it had been nearly four hours since they had gotten there but for Richie it had felt like less, he had been having so much fun he hadn’t noticed how long they’ve been there.

Richie looks up when Eddie returns and sits down in front of him again.

“Everything okay?” he asks.

“Yeah, everything’s fine, Bill just… did you ate all my fries?” he says frowning at his plate.

“Uh… no… you did” Richie answers unconvincingly.

“Right, so is that why you have ketchup all over your mouth?” Eddie replied with a raised eyebrow.

“Shit” Richie muttered and tried to wipe it off but missed.

“Here” Eddie said and used his thumb to wipe it off himself, while Richie stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights, he couldn’t believe how cliché the whole thing was. Then Eddie put his thumb in his mouth, and Richie honest to God, whined.

That made Eddie realize just what he had done and he blushes furiously. Richie was feeling pretty flustered himself. They stare at each other until Richie talks, in an effort to break the tension.

“What did Billy Boy want?”

“Huh? Oh, he just needed to know where my car keys were, he is taking my car to work today, since I’m not there to drive him.”

“Where does he work?”

And just like that they were back to normal, talking in between bites of food and sips of their drinks and if they stared at each other’s mouths more than they did before the ketchup incident, neither of them said anything.

-♥-

They made their way through the remaining exhibits. When they got to the piranha’s tank, Richie was freaking out over how cool the piranhas were up close and Eddie seized the opportunity to tease him for it.

“What are laughing about?” Richie asked and looked up at Eddie, he was currently sitting on the floor, intently watching a piranha eat its lunch.

“It’s just… You look like a kid, sitting crossed legged on the floor, all excited about a flesh-eating fish, it’s cute” he explains with a fond smile.

Richie just replies with a “Nah, babe, you’re the cute one,” and goes back to watching the water tank in front of him, missing the way Eddie blushes at the pet name.

They go get ice cream after that, mint chocolate chip for Eddie and rocky road for Richie. They walk around aimlessly while they eat it and every once in a while the back of their hands brush together, giving Richie a minor heart attack every time it happens. After the hundredth time it happens, he finally gathers enough courage to grab the other boy’s hand in his own. This makes Eddie choke on his spit and start coughing. Richie tries to retrieve his hand so that he can hit him on the back or something but instead of letting go, Eddie intertwines their fingers together and gives Richie’s hand a squeeze. Once Eddie recovers from his coughing fit, both boys smile shyly at each other and continue walking with their joined hands swaying between them.

One look at his watch told Richie it was time for Eddie’s surprise. He guided the other boy in the direction of the sea cliffs exhibit. Once they arrived, Eddie caught sight of a sign that said “Sea otter exhibit ahead” and stopped in his tracks.

“Richie look! There are otters! You didn’t tell me! Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks confused, then he turns to Richie and sees that the other boy is smiling at him, “This is my surprise, isn’t it?” he adds with a smile of his own.

“Not exactly” Richie says, making Eddie frown. He then reaches into his back pocket, pulls out two tickets and shows them to Eddie. He tilts his head to read what they say, and as he does his eyes widen.

“No way” he said, “no fucking way.”

Richie smiled, “Surprise, surprise, Eds. Today you get to feed and pet your favorite animal.”

Richie had expected Eddie to smile, jump up and down or sprint to where the otters were, what he _didn’t_ expect was for Eddie to wrap his arms around his neck in a hug.

He stood there, frozen for a second before wrapping his own arms around Eddie’s waist tightly. _Forget buying something nice for her birthday, I’m taking Beverly to motherfucking Disneyland for this_ , he thinks, content to be holding Eddie in his arms.

They break apart and Eddie is staring at Richie with such affection and happiness in his eyes, that he feels like he is going to combust. They smile at each other and walk towards the exhibit.

-♥-

Richie decides that if he and Eddie officially start dating he is going to find a way to buy him an otter or maybe steal it, whatever it takes because this right here, Eddie sitting on the grass, feeding the otter that is sitting on his lap and petting it with a huge smile on his face, is the cutest and happiest he has seen him and it makes Richie’s heart feel like bursting out of his chest.

They stay there for as long as they are allowed which is something close to half an hour and as they are walking away, hand in hand, their clothes wet and grass stained, Eddie looks up at Richie and says, “Thank you, Rich, for everything. This has been an amazing first date.”

And Richie lets go of this hand, puts his arm around Eddie’s shoulders and says, “Anything for you, Eds.”

Before leaving, they make a stop at the gift shop where Richie buys Eddie a Sea Otter stuffy and in return he buys Richie a piranha keychain, on which he excitedly hangs his keys right away.

It’s around five o’clock when they leave. The ride to Eddie’s apartment is quiet, they are both tired after walking around in the sun all day so they just listen to the radio, Richie tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to the rhythm of the music and Eddie mouthing the lyrics to the songs he knows.

Once they reach Eddie’s place, they both get out of the car and Richie walks Eddie to the front of the building. There, they both stand awkwardly, waiting for the other to do or say something.

“Do you… Would you like to come upstairs? We could watch a movie or something?” Eddie says without looking at Richie, nervous that maybe he is being too forward.

“I’d love to” Richie answers without thinking but then he remembers about his shift starting in about an hour and frowns, “shit, I can’t though. I have to be at the station by six thirty.”

“Oh, right, some other time then” Eddie deflates a little but tries to hide it behind a smile, Richie wishes he could blow off work and stay, but he can’t and he knows Eds wouldn’t let him anyways.

“You can bet I’ll take you up on that” he says and Eddie’s smile feels more genuine this time.

“I had a lot of fun today, Rich. I know I already said it, but thank you. It was perfect.”

“You don’t need to thank me, Eds, I enjoyed myself too.” And he did, more than he had in a long time.

 _C’mon Tozier, ask him out again, you both want to, so just do it,_ he tells himself. But it turns out he doesn’t have to, because then Eddie says, “But next time, no surprises, okay?”

With a raised eyebrow and a smirk, Richie says, “Next time, huh? Did I miss you asking me out on a second date at some point?”

Eddie chuckles, takes a deep breath and looks at Richie straight in the eye, “Richie Tozier, would you like to go out with me again sometime?”

“Why, my dear Eddie Spaghetti, I thought you’d never ask” he says fluttering his eyelashes and putting a hand on his chest in a dramatic gesture, making Eddie laugh. He sobers up and adds “That was a yes, in case you’re wondering.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured.”

They smile at each other and Richie’s eyes drift to Eddie’s mouth and before he can realize what he is doing, he leans forward and catches Eddie’s lips in a kiss. Eddie stays frozen for a millisecond before his brain catches up and then he is kissing back and pulling Richie closer by the lapels of his shirt. Richie goes along and cups Eddie’s face in his hands before deepening the kiss. They both feel like they are flying and Richie can feel Eddie smiling into the kiss and he knows he is too.  

Eventually, they end the kiss but they still don’t let go of each other. When they open their eyes, Eddie starts giggling and Richie would be offended at such reaction if he didn’t look even cuter while this close to his face.

“Are my kissing skills that laughable, Eds?” he asks, which only makes Eddie laugh more.

“No, no, your kissing skills are great, is just, your glasses make your eyes look big all the time but with your face so close to mine they look fucking huge” he says in between giggles.

“Oh, I’ll show you something huge” Richie says waggling his eyebrows suggestively and their faces are still inches apart, so when he does that it makes his eyes look even funnier than before and Eddie bursts out laughing.

“Oh god, I’m going to end up with abs if you keep making me laugh like this.”

“You know that’s only going to make me try even harder to make you laugh, right?”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Make me” Richie answers with a smirk and Eddie looks like he is considering taking him up on that dare but before he can kiss Richie again, someone clears their throat and they both turn and find a girl standing on the stairs in front of Eddie’s building.

“Uh… I’m really sorry to interrupt, but you’re blocking the entrance and I kind of need to go inside” she says sheepishly.

Both boys blush and awkwardly move apart so that she can go inside. Once she is gone, Richie turns to Eddie and says, “So, uh… I guess I’ll leave now.”

“Yeah, I should get inside.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow, yeah?”

Eddie nods and just like he did hours ago, steps on his tiptoes and kisses Richie, only this time he kisses his lips instead of his cheek. And just like hours ago, it turns Richie into a flustered mess.

“Goodbye, Rich.”

“Yeah, goodbye, Eds.”

He waits until Eddie is inside and out of sight to start walking back towards his car. He has to resist the urge to pump his fist in the air like the guy from The Breakfast Club at how amazing their first date was.

He gets in the car and as he drives away, he thinks about how bad he has it for for Eddie Kaspbrak, because even though he literally just said goodbye to him after spending an entire day together, he can’t wait to see him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope their first date lives up to your expectations! It’s my favorite chapter so far, I just love writing these two together. Thank you for all the love and support, I’m working on new ideas for future chapters, I’m not ready to finish this story just yet. 
> 
> Enjoy ♥♥♥


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Richie’s friends want to meet Eddie and, like the overthinking mess he is, he worries about what could happen. In the end, he figures he can at least ask Eddie about it and see what he thinks. Featuring, Eddie and Richie being as adorable as always, not wanting to go a week without seeing each other and Beverly, Stan and Mike making fun of everyone’s favorite trashmouth.

If it had been up to Richie, he would have taken Eddie out on their second date the day after they had their first one. He had texted Eddie from work that same night and told him just that.

**_Richie:_** Is tomorrow too soon to take you out again?

**_Eddie:_** You literally dropped me off less than an hour ago, Richie.

**_Richie:_** What can I say? I miss you already, Eddie Spaghetti  <3

**_Eddie:_** You are one clingy dude.

But yeah I miss you too <3

And I would go out with you tomorrow but I have a test on Tuesday and a lot of homework to get through, so I can’t.

**_Richie:_** You break my heart Eds.

I’m more important than homework.

**_Eddie:_** Are you going to get me a Nursing degree?

**_Richie:_** I mean, I could make you a fake one, I made myself a fake ID back in high school and it looked better than the one I have now so.

**_Eddie:_** Fake ID Rich, seriously?

As tempting as that sounds, I’m gonna have to pass.

Besides, it’s my turn to plan our date so you gotta give me time.

**_Richie:_** Fuck, how much time? Because I will seriously die if I don’t see you again soon.

**_Eddie:_** God, you are such a drama queen, Richard.

**_Richie:_** Maybe so, but it’s still the truth.

It doesn’t have to be this huge thing Eds, let’s just grab lunch or something.

**_Eddie:_** So that you can run your mouth about how you took me on this perfect first date and I took you out for pizza or something equally lame like that? No thanks.

**_Richie:_** I would never.

But seriously pizza with you sounds fucking awesome.

**_Eddie:_** We are NOT grabbing pizza for our second date, you dork, forget it.

**_Richie:_** Don’t say that, I can be very convincing ;)

**_Eddie:_** Well, I can be very stubborn so good luck with that.

-♥-

“So you are going on your second date with Eddie tomorrow?” Mike asked Richie on Tuesday night. The two of them, along with Stan and Beverly, had been hanging out at Mike and Stan’s apartment since their classes had ended earlier in the afternoon.   

“We are grabbing pizza for lunch, but he refuses to call it our second date” Richie replied.

In the end, Richie had managed to convince Eddie to grab pizza together later that week, as long as Richie accepted that it didn’t count as their second date. If he was being honest, he would have agreed to pretty much anything if it meant seeing Eddie soon.

“Is he embarrassed to say he is going out with you a second time?” Stan said with a smirk, Richie flipped him off without even turning to look at him.

“Unlikely. He was the one who asked Richie out on a second date after all” Bev said.  

“He asked you?”

“Don’t act so surprised, Mike.”

“I’m just surprised he beat you to it. The way you talk about him, I figured you would have asked him out again before your first date even started” Mike explained with a laugh and the other two hummed in agreement.

“C’mon you guys, I don’t talk about him _that_ much” Richie said. He was lying on the living room floor on top of a bunch of pillows he had grabbed from the spare bedroom. His eyes were fixed on the TV were Guardians of the Galaxy was playing. They had all watched that movie over a hundred times, but it was on the TV when they turned it on and since they could never agree on what to watch, they figured it was best just to leave it. When neither of his friends said anything, Richie turned to look at them. They were all staring at him, dumbfounded. “What?” he asked.

“You literally haven’t talked about anything that isn’t Eddie related for the past two weeks” Bev said.

“Yeah, it’s ’Eddie this’, ’Eddie that’ all the time. I know what the kid’s favorite cereal is and I’ve never even met him” Mike supplied.

Then Stan added, “The other day we were talking about laundry detergents and you found a way to make it about him, I still don’t understand how.”

“Okay, so maybe I talk about him a little” At Beverly’s glare, he corrected himself, “fine, a lot. But if you guys met him, you’d understand! He is just so fucking perfect” Richie said, laying down on the floor with a dramatic sigh.

Ignoring Richie’s dramatic antics, Mike says, “That’s actually a great idea!” The other three turn to stare at him in question.

“What’s that, Mikey?”

“You know, us meeting Eddie. It’s a good idea!” Mike explained excitedly, Beverly’s eyes lit up and even Stan seemed to approve of what Mike was saying. Richie, on the other hand, was frowning, _that is definitely not what I meant_ , he thinks.

“Yes!” Bev said sitting up, leaving Noodles, who had been curled up in her lap, with no other choice but to abandon the recliner and go lie on the couch with Stan and Mike instead, “I’ve been dying to meet him!”

“You already met him, Marsh” Richie told her.

“Well, yeah, but as Ben’s friend. Not as your soon-to-be boyfriend!” She replied and then seemed to get an idea, “My birthday!”

“Yes, Beverly, we know your birthday is coming, you keep reminding us. But that is not what we are talking about here.”

“No, Stan, that’s when we can meet Eddie. At my birthday party, on Friday, I was already going to invite Ben, so you guys could meet him, but now Richie can invite Eddie too. That way we all get to meet him, you guys also meet Ben and they have each other to talk to if Richie and I are busy. Everybody wins!” Beverly explains and she looks proud of herself for having come up with that plan. Stan and Mike seem to be considering it and Richie starts to panic.

“No” he says and his three friends turn to look at him with a frown.

“What do you mean ’no’?”

“I mean just that. I am not bringing Eddie to your birthday party. Nu huh, no sir, no ma’am.”

“Why the fuck not Rich?”

“It’s too soon.”

“Bullshit. I’m bringing Ben for you guys to meet him too.”

“Yes, but I’ve only seen Ben around you once and I already know he is fucking crazy about you, nothing we could possibly say would drive him away. With Eddie, I’m not so sure, you guys could scare him off.”

“Oh c’mon Rich” Mike says, “He went on a date with you, then asked you out again. You guys are grabbing lunch tomorrow because you can’t wait to see each other again, you talk all the time, he’s just as crazy about you as you are about him.”

Richie doesn’t answer. Objectively, he knows Mike is right but he is the king of overthinking things and he has been second guessing Eddie’s interest in him since he saw just what an amazing guy he was.

“Mike is right” Stan said, “I mean if you haven’t scared him off with your loud mouth and your crude jokes, not to mention your ability to embarrass yourself and the people around you, then there isn’t much we can say to Eddie that will drive him away.” Richie narrows his eyes at him.

Beverly snorts, “I don’t know Stan, what if we told Eddie about that time in high school when Richie tried to smoke bamboo because he was sure it would get him high but in the end it only got him sick?”

“I don’t think you’re helping, Bev” Mike said quietly, but she just ignored him and continued talking, much to Richie’s dismay.

“Or if we told him about that time when he _did_ get high and proposed to our math teacher in front of the entire school?”

“Wait, he did that?” Mike asked, forgetting for a moment he should be trying to stop Beverly from speaking, instead of encouraging her.

This time, Stan was the one to talk. “Yes, Mike, he did. And when he politely declined, Richie just clung to him like a fucking koala and started begging him to reconsider.”

“’Please, Mr. Thomas, you are to blame for my bisexual awakening, the least you can do is let me love you’’’ Bev said in between laughs, imitating Richie.

Mike just stared at Richie in amusement. He shrugged, “What can I say? I was always a ’go big or go home’ kind of guy, my coming out was not going to be the exception.”

“You ended up going home that day though, with a three day suspension for entering the school premises while intoxicated” Stan supplied, and they all laughed this time, including Richie.

“I’ve got another one” Bev said, still laughing. She really seemed to be enjoying this particular conversation, “What about that time when you were taking a shower and a spider fell on you and you just sprinted out of the bathroom completely naked while my aunt and I were watching TV on the couch?”

Stan and Mike erupted in laughter, they hadn’t heard that story before. Richie, on the other hand, blushed furiously. He didn’t get embarrassed around his friends very often but that day had been particularly mortifying. 

When he calmed down, Mike said, “Still, I don’t think Eddie would run away if we told him about Richie’s escapades as a teenager, though.”

“What are you talking about? That happened three weeks ago!” Bev guffawed and Stan and Mike started laughing again, so hard that there were tears in both of their eyes.

Richie just sat there, glaring at his friends until they calmed down and then he said, “And you wonder why I don’t want you to meet Eddie.”

“C’mon Rich, we are joking. We wouldn’t tell him those stories” Bev said, and the other two nodded along, “not yet, at least” she added with a smirk. Richie grabbed a pillow and threw it at her face, but she caught it midair. She stuck her tongue out at him.

“My friends are literal five year olds” Stan said, shaking his head.

Ignoring Stan, Richie told Beverly, “Forgive me if I don’t believe you, Bev. You seemed to be having the time of your life telling all those stories about me.”

Before Beverly could say anything, Mike said to Richie, “Believe _me_ , then. I will make sure neither of these two tell Eddie embarrassing stories about you. I promise.”

Richie narrowed his eyes at them as he thought it over. He did want Eddie to meet his friends, he was sure they would love him and, no matter how much hell they gave him, Stan, Mike and Bev were great and Eds was bound to like them back. That didn’t mean he wasn’t worried about it, though. Was it too soon? Would Eddie freak out about Richie wanting to meet his friends already? Would they, in fact, scare him off?

_Fuck it_ , he thought, _he is going to have to meet them eventually, might as well get it over with._ Besides if he invited Eddie to Bev’s party that meant he was going to see him not only tomorrow but on Friday as well.

“Fine, I’ll talk to him about it” he said. Mike and Beverly both cheered, Stan gave him a little smile and Richie found himself smiling back. Then he turned around towards the TV again and told his friends to shut the fuck up so he could watch the freaking movie in peace.

 -♥-

The next day, Richie left the apartment earlier than he usually did. He didn’t have class until two but he was meeting Eddie for their not-date. They had agreed to meet on campus right after Eddie’s class which he had said, ended at noon. But when Richie arrived, ten minutes early, he saw the other boy sitting on a bench in front of the Public Health building, reading.

He approached Eddie without being seen and then he pinched Eddie’s sides and yelled “Eddie Spaghetti!” practically in his ear. The poor boy jumped from where he was sitting, dropping the book and turned around with a murderous look on his face, only to find Richie smirking at him.

“Fucking hell, Richie! Was that really fucking necessary?” He exclaimed, while he picked up the book, only to throw it at Richie next.

“Eddie, my love, you wound me!” he said, while rubbing at the spot where the book hit his arm. It hadn’t actually wounded him, it was a small paperback book after all.

“Well, you scared the hell out of me!” Eddie said, crossing his arms and pouting at Richie.

They were standing on opposite sides of the concrete bench, so Richie stepped on it and let himself fall on the other side, in front of Eddie, so he could grab the boy’s face in his hands.

“I’m sorry Eds, you just looked so fucking adorable sitting there, reading. I just couldn’t help myself.”

Eddie snorts at that, and tries to glare at Richie some more, but his eyes betray him and he ends up looking at Richie’s mouth instead. The taller boy notices it and he smiles before pressing a small kiss to Eddie’s lips. Richie pulls apart quickly, not sure how Eddie feels about sharing anything other than a chaste kiss in public but stays close enough that when he speaks, Eddie can feel his breath on his face.

“Hiya, Eds” He says with a dazed smile.

“Hi, Rich” Eddie replies with a smile of his own, “You could have just done that you know, instead of the whole giving me a heart attack thing” he adds.

“Aw but where is the fun in that, babe?” Richie winks at him. It didn’t matter how many times Richie called him that, it still made Eddie blush every time. He tried to hide it by ducking his head and starting to pick up his things, but Richie had already noticed.

“Goddamn, you’re cute when you blush!” He says, pinching Eddie’s cheek. He shakes him off and goes to pick up the book he had thrown at Richie. Then he turns around and starts walking.

“Let’s go, Tozier. I only have two hours before my next class and I am starving.”

Richie smirked, “That’s exactly what your mom said last night before I fed her my- Ow!” Before he could finish the sentence, Richie was hit by a book for the second time that day.

“Beep, beep Richie!”

“You know that counts as domestic violence, right Eds? I could... Wait, did you just… beep me?” Eddie just glares at him one last time before turning on his heels and walking away, “Holy shit, that’s so fucking cute!” Richie laughs, while picking up the book and running to catch up with Eddie.

He throws an arm around the other boy’s shoulders, expecting Eddie to shrug him off in annoyance, but instead he just tucks himself farther under Richie’s arm and keeps walking.

They end up going to a pizza place nearby, since Eddie does have class in two hours and the two of them are pretty hungry. They order a large pizza to share, Richie orders his half with pineapple because he wants it to match the Hawaiian shirt he is wearing and Eddie orders his with ham and mushrooms because “I am not a freaking weirdo, Rich”.

While they wait for the pizza to arrive, they catch up on things. Not that they need to do much catching up, since they text each other pretty much all the time. Eddie tells Richie about the test he had the day before and the celebratory dinner of sorts Bill and Ben had taken him on afterwards, even though Eddie wasn’t sure if he had done _that_ well on the test.

At the mention of Ben, Richie thinks of Beverly, which makes him think of her birthday party and the fact that he is supposed to invite Eddie to it. He zones out once his worries about the whole thing start to fill his mind.

Eddie is in the middle of telling Richie about this girl who just started working at the book shop he works at and her annoying habit of popping chewing gum bubbles practically in Eddie’s ear, when Richie blurts out, “So, my friends want to meet you.”

Eddie stops talking, frowns and then he says, “what?”

“My friends, Stan, Mike and Bev, they want to meet you” Richie says, nervously.

“Why?”

“Well, because apparently I talk about you all the time and since you and I are dating they want to meet you” he pauses, a frown appearing on his face, “We _are_ dating, right?”

Eddie gives him a look Richie is very familiar with, a look that says “Are you fucking kidding me?” though most of the time it is Stan who looks at him like that.

“We are literally on a date right now, Richie.”

He sighs in relief and then with a smirk, Richie says, “I thought you said this wasn’t a date, Eds.”

Instead of answering, Eddie throws a rolled-up napkin at Richie, hitting him between his glasses.

“What is it with you and throwing things at me today?”

“Well, you keep giving me reasons to” Eddie says with a shrug.

The waiter brings the pizza in that moment and they both dig in, momentarily forgetting what they had been talking about, until Richie brings it up again.

“So, what do you think?”

“It’s really good. I mean it would be better if it had less cheese though, it keeps getting stuck on my teeth” Eddie says, oblivious as to what Richie was talking about.

“Okay, first of all, there’s no such thing as too much cheese. Second of all, I wasn’t talking about the pizza, Eddie dear.”

“Well, Richie darling, what where you talking about then?” Eddie replies and he relishes in the fact that this time he is the one making Richie blush at the pet name.

After clearing his throat, Richie answers, “Meeting my friends. What do you think about that?”

“Oh” Eddie exhales, nervous, “uh, sure. I mean, if you want me to meet them, I’ll do it.”

_Fuck, he hates the idea_. “Do try to contain your enthusiasm, Eddie” he says sarcastically, making the other boy flinch. Then he adds softly, “We don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, Eds, it’s okay”. He tries to hide his disappointment, it doesn’t matter how much he wants Eddie there with him at Bev’s party, he is not going to force him to do something he doesn’t want.

“It’s not that I don’t want to, it just makes me nervous, I guess.”

“It makes me nervous too, trust me. I love those losers but they can be too much when you first meet them.”

“When would it happen?”

“Well, Bev is having a party for her birthday this Friday at our apartment. Mike and Stan are going to be there, so you can meet the three of them all at once. She is also inviting Ben, so I won’t be the only one there that you know. Not that I plan on leaving your side the entire night. If you decide to go, that is.”

Eddie doesn’t answer right away, he seems to be thinking it over. _He must be trying to come up with an excuse not to go_ , Richie’s mind supplies. But right when he is about to tell Eddie to forget about it, that it was a stupid idea anyway, he draws in a big breath of air and says, “Okay.”

“Okay as in…”

“I’ll come to the party and meet your friends” He says and even if he doesn’t seem to be dying of excitement, he looks certain that he wants to do it.

Richie grins excitedly at him and says, “You won’t regret it, Eddie Spaghetti” making Eddie groan the same way he does every time Richie calls him that.

“That party still doesn’t count as our second date, though.”

Richie snorts, “If you keep that up, we are going to end up having our second date when we are old and grey and married.”

Eddie chokes on his drink and looks at Richie with wide eyes, “Married? Aren’t you getting a little bit ahead of yourself, Tozier?”

“Oh, just you wait, Kaspbrak. I am going to marry the fuck out of you one day, I promise” Richie replies, and even though he is smirking, his tone is uncharacteristically serious. Eddie just laughs and goes back to his food.

_If only he knew how serious I was_ , Richie thinks looking at Eddie with a soft smile on his face.

They stay there even after they finish their food and their drinks, just talking to each other until they have no other choice but to leave if Eddie wants to get to his class on time. Richie walks him there, even though the Mathematics building, where he has his own class, is completely on the opposite side of campus.

Once they get there, Eddie turns to face Richie and says, “So, I guess I’ll see you on Friday then.” Richie nods. “Should I bring something? Food? Drinks?”

“Don’t worry about that, we’ve got it covered.”

“What about a present for Beverly? It’s her birthday after all.” Eddie says, and starts panicking over what he can get someone he has only talked to once before, “I can get her some chocolates, unless she doesn’t like them, or she is allergic to them. Some nail polish maybe, or a perfume. But what if he doesn’t like what I choose?”

“Hey, calm down, Eds. You don’t have to get her anything” Richie says, placing his hands on Eddie’s shoulders to get the other boy to look at him. He looks like he is about to argue, so Richie adds, “But if you really want to, she loves chocolates, her favorites are the peanut butter M&M’s, she’s bound to love you if you get her those. Nail polish is also a good idea, she paints her nails every day before going out so she’s always in need for more, as for the color she likes red, black and maroon the most. And for a perfume, anything vanilla scented is a safe choice. But really, she will love anything you get her, alright?”

“Yeah, okay. Thanks, Rich” Eddie says with a smile, then he looks down at his watch and frowns, “I have to go now if I want to make it to class on time.”

Richie pouts, “Okay, see you on Friday, Eddie Spaghetti.”

“Bye Richie” Eddie says and quickly kisses Richie, before running up the steps of the building.

Richie watches him go and before Eddie reaches the doors, he yells, “Damn, Eds!”

The other boy turns around, confused, “What?”

“Nothing, I just hate to watch you go but absolutely love to watch you leave” he winks at Eddie. He goes bright red and flips Richie off, before walking inside the building, leaving Richie laughing outside on his own, a few college students staring at him in amusement. Once Eddie is completely out of sight, he turns around and starts walking towards his own class, still with a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are still enjoying this!!  
> Don’t forget to let me know what you think, so leave a comment or come find me on tumblr at @jem-carstairs-is-perfection ♥


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which it’s finally Beverly’s birthday. Featuring the birthday girl, Richie, Stan, Mike, Ben and a very nervous Eddie. And as per usual, some Reddie adorableness as well.

When Richie woke up on Friday to the sound of his alarm, he was confused for a second. He didn’t have classes on Fridays, so there wasn’t any reason for him to wake up at a specific time. He was trying to snooze his alarm, when he caught a glimpse of the date and realized why he had set it in the first place. Today was Beverly’s birthday and as his best friend, he had things to do.

Unlike Richie, Beverly did have classes on Fridays, but last night she had told him that she was skipping, since it was her special day and she wasn’t going to waste three hours of it listening to her boring professor. Richie hadn’t even tried to dissuade her, he had done the exact same thing many times before. Since she didn’t have get ready, it didn’t come as a surprise to him to find her door was still closed. In fact, he was glad, it gave him time to do what he had to do.

He made his way to the kitchen and as silently as he could, he started to grab all the things he would need to make what he liked to call chocolate chip pancakes à la Tozier. He had been making them on Beverly’s birthday for three years now, ever since they moved in together. The first year, he hadn’t planned on making them, he had just woken up way too early for his classes and figured he could make something different for breakfast. Then Bev had woken up and when she asked if he had made the pancakes especially for her, he didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth. Eventually he came clean and they both laughed. The next year, Richie had surprised Beverly with the same pancakes, this time on purpose, and it had been a tradition since.

Once he was done, it was still too early to wake Bev up, so he decided to take a shower. He was putting on his clothes, when he heard some shuffling coming from her bedroom. He hurried to get ready, grabbed his present from under his bed and stepped outside of his room just as Beverly was leaving hers.

He tackled her with a hug and an enthusiastic, “Happy motherfucking birthday, Marsh!”

She yelped in surprise. Then she wrapped her arms around Richie’s shoulders and he spun her around a few times before putting her down and placing kisses all over her face.

Beverly was laughing when she said, “Take it easy on me, bud, I just woke up.”

“Well, I’ve been awake for hours, so deal with it.”

She chuckled, “You are awfully enthusiastic today.”

“Well, it’s my best friend’s birthday, I’m allowed to be excited. Here!” he said as he handed her the gift bag he had been holding.

She squealed in excitement, before grabbing the bag and sitting down on the floor to start pulling out its contents. The first thing she pulled out was a pair of rose gold earrings and a bunch of leather bracelets in several different colors. She smiled, delighted as she put them on right away. Then, she pulled out it was a pair of earphones, Richie had bought those the day before, after Beverly told him she had lost hers on the way home. The last item was a white t-shirt, with the words “I’m a fucking lady” written in black, cursive letters. Richie had seen it and immediately thought of Bev and if the way she was smiling as she looked at it meant anything, he had been right to do so.

“Did you like it?” Richie asked, nervously.

“Do you even have to ask?” Bev replied as she put the t-shirt and the earphones inside the bag again, “I love it, just as I’ve loved every single present that you’ve given me for the past ten years” She stood up then and hugged Richie, who laughed in relief.

“I’m glad to hear that” He said, as he wrapped his arms around Bev’s waist for the second time that day.

She kissed his cheek and said, “Thank you, Rich.”

“You’re very welcome, Bev. Now, there’s something waiting for you in the kitchen.”

“Fuck yes, chocolate chip pancakes!” She exclaimed and ran to the kitchen.

While Richie heat up the pancakes, Beverly poured coffee for her and orange juice for him. They ate their breakfast together in comfortable silence with Beverly’s phone ringing every once in a while from all the birthday texts.

“Was I the first person to wish you a happy birthday?” Richie asked, without looking up at her.

When she didn’t answer right away, he looked up. She was staring at him apologetically, “Sorry, Rich.”

“Damn it! Was it Stan? It was Stan, wasn’t it? That fucker.” Richie muttered.

“Uh no, actually it was Ben” Beverly said, “We were on the phone last night until after midnight.”

“He gave you his present then? Some phone sex to start your birthday right?” Richie said with a leer.

“You” Beverly said, pointing her fork at him “are gross.” Richie merely shrugged his shoulders at the accusation.

“But seriously, how dare he wish my best friend a happy birthday before me?” Richie said with mock offense, “I will fight him.”

Beverly snorted, “You really don’t want to do that. He was part of his high school wrestling team, he would have you pinned down on the ground faster than you could say ‘fight me’.”

“Wow, your faith in me is astounding” Richie said, sarcastically.

“Richie, one time you knocked yourself out trying to punch a guy.”

“I-” He started, before changing what he was going to say, “Yeah, you’re right, please tell Ben not to fight me.”

Bev let out a chuckle, “He most likely wouldn’t, he’s too nice for that.”

“You’re seeing him today? Before the party, I mean?”

“Yeah, we’re meeting for coffee later today, after lunch with you guys.”

“You could’ve brought him to lunch.”

“You are already meeting him at the party, so. Besides, he wanted to give me my present while it was just the two of us.” Richie wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Rolling her eyes, she added, “While surrounded by people in a café, so stop doing… that.” She said, waving her hand as if to encompass Richie’s expression.

He shrugged, “That doesn’t mean it’s not a sexy present. That’s what bathrooms are for.”

Beverly scrunched up her face, “That is most definitely _not_ what bathrooms are for” she said with a laugh.

After they finished eating, Beverly left Richie alone so she could go get ready, they had a couple of hours before they had to meet Stan and Mike for lunch but it always took her forever to get ready, so it was better if she got started right away. And with good reason because ten minutes before they had to go, she was still getting ready.

When she finally left her room Richie saw that she had put on the t-shirt he had given her and thrown a red-and-black plaid shirt on top of it. She paired it up with a denim skirt and white sneakers. One of the things Richie admired about Beverly, and there was a lot to admire, was her amazing fashion sense. That’s why he hadn’t been the least bit surprised when she had told him she wanted to major in Fashion Design.

They managed to arrive to the restaurant on time but still Stan and Mike had already been waiting for them. They greeted Bev with hugs and kisses and ’happy birthdays’ and then handed her the presents they had brought. Then the four of them sat down on the table and ordered their food. They always went to this same restaurant, an Italian place they had discovered on their first year, to celebrate special occasions, so they already knew what to order.

While they waited for their food arrive, Beverly opened her presents. She opened Stan’s first, he had gotten her a new sketchbook and a 100 colored pencil set for her designs.

“Stan, oh my God, I love it. So many colors!” Bev said, staring at the pencils in awe, she looked up at her friend, smiling, “And I needed a new sketchbook too! Thank you so much!”

Stan smiled back at her, “I’m glad you like it, Bev, I was worried it was too… I don’t know, simple I guess.”

“Honey, you could give me one single colored pencil and I would love it” Beverly chuckled, but she was looking at Stan seriously.

“Thanks for the tip, Bev. Next year, you’re getting _three_ colored pencils, one from each of us” Richie joked.

Then, it was Mike’s present turn. He had gotten her a new Jane Austen book, ’Emma’. Last semester, Richie and Bev had taken a course called “Influential women in history” and as part of the class they had had to read one of her novels, ’Persuasion’ it was called. Ever since, Bev had been completely obsessed with her.  

“You stole that from work, Mikey?” Richie asked when he saw the book. Mike had a job at the public library and he absolutely loved it there.

Mike turned to look at him, outraged by Richie’s accusation, “Stealing books from libraries is a serious offense, Richie” he said, with so much seriousness his three friends laughed.

Apart from the book, Mike had also given Beverly a beige wool sweater.

“I hope it fits” He told her while she was looking it over, “I made Stan try it on before buying it, since he is lean like you.”

Richie snorted, “How did you manage to convince him to do that?”

“I can be very persuasive” Mike said with a wink, which earned him a high five and a laugh from Richie and an elbow to the side from Stan.

“How do I look?” Bev asked. They hadn’t noticed her taking off her plaid shirt and putting on the new sweater instead. Now, she was standing next to the table, posing, to show it off.

“You look great, Bev.” Stan said.

Mike nodded, “It fits perfectly.”

Richie smirked, “Tell us Mike, who wore it better? Stan or Bev?”

Both Bev and Mike erupted in laughter, Stan on the other hand, glared at him. Richie was glad there was a table between the two of them, he didn’t think Bev would appreciate one of her best friends murdering the other on her birthday, it would definitely ruin her plans.

Shortly after Bev thanked Mike for the present, blowing a kiss at him from across the table, their food arrived and they began eating. The rest of the lunch was rather uneventful and after they were done, Stan and Mike said their goodbyes, Stan had to get to class and Mike had football practice, so they said they would see the other two later at the party.

As for Beverly and Richie they parted ways as well, since Bev had to go meet Ben. Richie didn’t have anything to do for the next few hours until he had to go pick Eddie up for the party, so he went back to the apartment to get some sleep, knowing he would need the energy later.

He woke up around five to the sound of the front door closing loudly and then two people talking and laughing. He recognized one of the two as Beverly and even though he had only heard Ben’s voice once before, and he had been mildly inebriated at the time, he was sure that’s who the second voice belonged to. He got up and walked out of his room, interrupting Bev and Ben, who had been making out against the front door. They both turned to look at him, Beverly in annoyance and Ben in surprise.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I had to make my presence known before the two of you started to take off your clothes in the middle of the hallway” Richie said with a smirk, he turned to Ben, saluted him and said, “It’s good to see you again, Ben, my dude.”

He waved awkwardly with one hand, the other still holding Beverly’s waist, “Hello Richie, uh, it’s good to see you too.”

“I thought you had to pick Eddie up” Bev said with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, but I was taking a nap first, you know, gathering up energies for tonight. Besides, Eds’ shift at the book store ended like twenty minutes ago, I’m giving him time to get prettied up… Not that he needs to, of course.” Richie said.

“I thought you’d be dying to get some time alone with your boy before the party.”

“I think that was you, Bev.” Richie replied with a smirk. Bev glared at him, confirming what Richie had just said, which only made Richie’s smirk grow wider.

Ben wouldn’t make eye contact with Richie, his eyes intently examining the doormat he was standing on. Still, Richie could see he was blushing.

Beverly opened her mouth to say something, probably to tell Richie to fuck off so she could have her alone time with Ben, when the first notes for Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ “Come on Eileen” coming from his phone interrupted her, letting Richie know that Eddie was calling him.

Richie had chosen that song for Eddie’s ringtone on Wednesday, when he saw how, after the song started playing at the pizza place they were at, Eddie had had to consciously stop himself from jumping out of his seat and start dancing along to the music. He had told Eddie as much and when he had tried to argue, Richie had replied with a ‘Come on Eddie’ to the beat of the song and the other boy had started giggling, completely forgetting what he had been arguing about.

Richie answered the call with a “Hiya, Eds”, Bev’s eyes still on him.

“Hi, Rich.”

“To what do I owe the pleasure? You’re not calling to cancel on me, are you?”

“Uh, no. Actually I was wondering if maybe you could come get me a bit earlier than we agreed on.”

“How early?” Richie asked, he could see Beverly and Ben exchanging whispers.

“Like, right now?” Eddie said uncertainly. Richie’s eyebrows rose in surprise, but before he could ask him why, the other boy continued. “It’s just, I got ready faster than I intended and now I’m sitting here, doing nothing and the longer I do that, the more anxious I get, so I thought if you came earlier then… I know it’s silly and it’s okay if you can’t, don’t worry, I’ll just-”

Richie could practically feel Eddie’s nervousness through the phone, so before he gave himself a panic attack, he stopped his rambling and said, “I can be there in fifteen minutes.”

That stopped Eddie on his tracks, “Oh. Really? You don’t mind? If it’s too much trouble, you really don’t have to.” Eddie said, but he sounded hopeful.

“Trust me, seeing your adorable face earlier that I intended is no trouble at all” Richie told Eddie, and he heard him let out a sigh of relief. “I’m leaving right now” he added.

That seemed to get Beverly’s attention. She turned to look at him as if expecting Richie to already be gone. Richie’s smirk returned to his face.

Before Eddie could end the phone call, he said “We might need to hang around your apartment for a while though.”

“Why?’

“Because Ben is here and he and Beverly are just waiting for me to leave before they start taking their clothes off” Richie laughed.

“Richie!” Eddie said, disapprovingly, but Richie could tell he was trying not to laugh. “Ben is there? He must be blushing so much right now.”

“He’s almost as red as Bev’s hair.”

Eddie giggled, “You’re the worst.”

Richie shrugged his shoulders even though Eddie couldn’t see him and said, “It’s been said, yeah.”

“Just… get here, okay? And leave those two alone.”

“I never make promises I can’t keep, Eddie my love” Richie said, and before he ended the phone call, he added, “I’ll see you soon.”

Once Eddie was gone, he directed his attention to the other two people in the room. By then, Ben seemed to be getting his blushing under control, but Bev was still looking at Richie with a murderous expression.

Richie grinned, “Smile, Marsh, I’m leaving right now, you can-“

She interrupted him, “You’re on thin fucking ice right now, Richard, so choose your next words carefully.”

Richie raised his hands in defense, “I was just going to say, that you can text me what we are missing for the party and I’ll get it on my way back.”

Ben snorted, “Nice save.” Richie winked at him.

“You’re fooling no one, but fine, I’ll let you know.”

Richie nodded, and grabbed the keys from the table next to where Bev was standing, then he kissed her cheek as a goodbye. To Ben he said, “I’m sorry about all that” even though he didn’t sound apologetic at all.

“It’s okay.”

“You’ll have to get used to it, though, if you plan to stick around, or else there will be a permanent blush on your face.”

Ben chuckled, “I’ll try my best.”

Richie smiled and patted him on the back. He opened the door and turned towards them. He waved and said, “Hasta la vista, suckers!” before walking out.

And before the door closed completely he was able to see Ben laughing and Beverly fondly shaking her head at him.  

-♥-

After parking in front of Eddie’s building, Richie took out his phone and called him.

“Hello?”

“O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?” Richie said dramatically when the other boy answered his phone.

Eddie let out a chuckle. “I was never a big fan of Shakespeare but uh, what light through your window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun… or something like that.” He replied, humoring him.

Richie let out a laugh and as he got off the car and started walking towards the building, he said, “Aw Eds, you think I’m Juliet? Am I as pretty as her?”

“No.” Eddie said automatically, but then after a pause, he added softly, “You’re prettier.”

Richie choked on whatever snarky comment he was about to make. When he didn’t respond, Eddie asked him if he was okay.

Richie cleared his throat before he said, “Give me a minute Eds, you just called me pretty, I need to get myself together.”

“Oh shut up, you say I’m pretty all the freaking time” Eddie replied, and Richie could tell he was embarrassed.

“Yes and that is the honest-to-God truth, but I don’t think you’ve ever complimented my looks before, or me for that matter. I’m just savoring the moment.”

Eddie frowned, “Really? Never?”

“Uh no, I think I would remember.”

“Oh.” Eddie felt a little bad, as annoying as some of Richie’s compliments could be, they never failed to put a smile on his face or to make Eddie feel good. “Well… I do think you’re attractive, like a lot. And you’re pretty great too and I really like you, so, yeah.”

Richie gasped, “Eds, you better stop that unless you want me to drop dead right here in front of your building.” He joked, but if Eddie had been able to see him, he would have seen just how big Richie’s smile was.  

“Don’t be an idiot” Eddie said.

“Easier said than done, Eds.” Richie replied as he reached the building. Once there, he rung the intercom of Eddie’s apartment, a second later, he could hear it ring through the phone.

“Did you just… we are literally on the phone, Richie!” Eddie exclaimed.

“Yeah, but I’m still waiting for you to let me in.”

Eddie sighed, “I’m hanging up now. Get up here, you dork.” Richie heard a buzzing that indicated he could go inside.

“See you in a minute, Spaghetti man.”

“Oh hell no-”

Richie ended the phone call before Eddie could finish the sentence, which was most likely going to state his hatred for yet another one of Richie’s nicknames.

When he arrived at Eddie’s floor, his apartment door was open and he was outside, waiting for him.

“Couldn’t wait to see my pretty face, huh Eds?” Richie smirked as he sauntered to the door.

Eddie rolled his eyes, “Remind me never to give you a compliment again.” He moved aside so that Richie could enter the apartment.

Once they were both inside and Eddie had closed the door, he turned to face Richie and immediately wrapped his arms around the taller boy’s neck and kissed him. As soon as their lips met, one of Richie’s hands went to Eddie’s neck and the other one to his waist, pulling him closer.

Before then, they had only shared short, mostly chaste kisses, so Richie was a bit surprised when Eddie parted his lips and pressed them harder on his, deepening the kiss. Not that he was going to complain or fail to reciprocate, of course. Eventually they had to stop to catch their breath, so they pulled apart. They didn’t go far though, instead Richie rested his forehead against Eddie’s.

“Wow” He said, with a dazed smile, his eyes fixed on Eddie’s lips, red and glistening from the kiss, “That’s what I call a warm welcome.”

Eddie laughed, which made his nose scrunch up in the cutest way possible. “Shut up” he said, taking a step back, so that he could look at Richie without his eyes crossing. “Thank you for coming sooner.”

“Anything for you, Eds” Richie replied with a wink, “I did mean what I said, though, it’s best to stay here for a while, we don’t want to walk in on our best friend. Been there, done that” Richie said, shuddering at the memory.

Eddie frowned, “Yeah, I _definitely_ don’t want that.”

A perfectly wrapped present that was sitting on the kitchen counter caught Richie’s attention. He pointed at it and said, “You got that for Bev?”

Eddie looked at it and nodded.

“What did you get her in the end?”

“Uh… I couldn’t decide, so I got her everything that you said. The M&M’s, the vanilla scented perfume and some nail polish” Eddie said.

Richie snorted, “She’ll think you’re trying to win her over with presents” but when Eddie’s eyes widened in worry, he added “She’ll love it. She’ll love you, babe, don’t worry.”

“What about your other friends? Mike and Stan?”

“Stan might need a while to warm up to you, but that’s just the way he is. Mike is the sweetest, friendliest and nicest person ever. So nice, that I sometimes wonder why he is friends with us” Richie said. He had a smile on his face that Eddie had noticed he reserved for when he talked about his friends, “You’ll have no trouble hitting it up with him, I’m telling you.”

Eddie nodded, but he didn’t look entirely convinced. 

“You’re still worrying about it, aren’t you, Eds?”

Eddie shrugged, “It’s kind of what I do, yeah.”

Richie’s expression was thoughtful when he said, “How about… we cuddle on the couch, watch some TV and forget about the party for a while? It’s still early after all.”

Eddie smiled gratefully at him and nodded.

Richie sat on the couch, while Eddie searched for the remote control. When he found it, he sat down as close to Richie as he could without actually sitting on his lap. Richie wrapped an arm around him, and after a few minutes of going over the different channels, they settled on a Grey’s Anatomy episode.

Richie wasn’t a big fan of the show, but Eddie had told him once that medical shows were his guilty pleasure and that he loved watching them, if not for the drama just so he could tear it apart for all the medical inaccuracies. He figured since the goal was to distract Eddie, he could endure watching an episode or two.

In the end he didn’t pay much attention to it, instead he listened to Eddie go on and on about everything that was wrong with the show.

“You think that the surgeons are the ones who do everything? Bullshit, I mean, in a real hospital you’ll see nurses and other hospital staff much more than you’ll ever see an actual surgeon. Yet they are the ones who take the scans, do the bloodwork, the physical therapy. The only time we see the nurses is when they are involved in the drama, like in season 1, when a nurse slept with George and gave him syphilis. After that was done, we barely see her again, not until she gets fired. And don’t get me started on the way they perform CPR, I mean-”

Richie would just stare at him in amusement, and nod and hum whenever he considered it necessary. They ended up watching two more episodes, and by the time they left the apartment Eddie was in a good mood and most of his anxiety over meeting Richie’s friends seemed to have disappeared.

On their way back to Richie’s apartment, they stopped to get the ice Bev had texted him to get. By the time they were on the elevator of Richie’s apartment complex, he noticed some of Eddie’s nervousness was back.

Richie stopped the elevator by pressing the emergency button, knowing he wouldn’t get in trouble for it since it had stopped working before he had even moved in. Eddie turned to look at him in confusion and he said, “Last chance, Eds. If you want, we can ditch the party and go somewhere else.”

Eddie stared at him, he seemed to be considering Richie’s offer. In the end, he shook his head and said, “I would never ask you to bail on your best friend’s party. And I already bought her a present and we are already here” he looked at Richie with a determined look on his face, “Let’s do this.”

Richie eyed him for a second, then nodded, “Okay then”. He pushed the button again and the elevator started working.  

As they walked towards the apartment door, Richie carrying the bag of ice and Eddie carrying Bev’s present, they could hear music and voices coming from inside the apartment.

Once they arrived at the door, Richie put the ice bag on the floor and turned to face Eddie. He cupped the other boy’s face with his hands, making Eddie shiver with how cold they were and then he kissed him. It was a soft reassuring kiss that made Eddie smile. Richie pulled apart shortly after but kept his hands where they were, thumbs rubbing the other boy’s cheekbones.

Then he said, “They’ll go crazy for you, Eds, just like I did when I first met you.”

Eddie blushed. Then he smiled softly at Richie and said, “Let’s go meet your friends.”

Richie nodded. He opened the door, picked up the bag of ice and stepped inside.

“Alright, losers!” He yelled into the room, “The life and soul of the party is here, let’s get this show on the road!”

Most of the people inside cheered and whistled, but Eddie also heard a particularly heartfelt groan.

Shaking his head fondly, Eddie took a deep breath and followed Richie inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’m back at college now, so this took a bit longer to write! Hope you guys like it, next chapter is when 6/7 losers finally meet. And don’t think I’ve forgotten about Bill, he will get his chance as well.
> 
> Let me know what you think ♥


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which six losers come together. Bev, Stan and Mike finally meet Eddie and the four of them, along with Ben and Richie, become fast friends over pizza, drinks and the art of embarrassing each other.

Richie’s apartment was filled with people, noise and birthday decorations. Once inside, Eddie had a split-second to admire it all, before he heard someone shout at them.

“Finally! Took you long enough!” Beverly said as she approached Eddie and Richie, who placed the ice bag at his feet.

“Sorry Bev, this one here can be quite distracting.” Richie said, throwing an arm around Eddie’s shoulders.

She turned her attention to him, “Eddie! It’s great to see you again!”

Eddie extended his hand for her to shake but instead she embraced him in a hug, squeezing the present the boy was still holding between their bodies.

“Uh, you too. Happy birthday.” He said, returning the hug, one-armed.

She let him go and smiled, brightly at him. “Thank you, sweets. I’m glad you could make it to the party.”

Eddie smiled back, her enthusiasm was contagious, “Thanks for inviting me. Here, this is for you.” He handed her the present.

“Aw, Eddie you didn’t have to!” Bev said, but Eddie could tell she was happy that he did.

“That’s what I told him, but Eddie Spaghetti here insisted.” Richie said.

“Don’t call me that, Rich.” Eddie said with a half-hearted glare. Richie blew a kiss at him in response and as much as Eddie tried to fight it, the corners of his mouth curled up in a smile.

Bev laughed, “You two are adorable!”

Eddie blushed lightly and Richie smirked, “Nah, Eddie is the adorable one.”

“You say that now. Wait until you see him before he’s had his morning coffee.” Ben said, approaching the three of them, two drinks in hand.

He handed one to Beverly and she kissed his cheek in response.

“I don’t know, Benny boy. I can’t wait to see this beautiful face, first thing in the morning.” Richie said pulling Eddie close to him.

The smaller boy blushed but didn’t respond to the comment. Instead, he said to Ben, “Just because you’re a morning person, doesn’t mean all of us have to be as well.”

Richie laughed at that, “Bev is the opposite of a morning person. How does _that_ work?”

Bev looked at Ben with a soft smile, “I don’t mind waking up early if it’s next to him.”

Richie made gagging noises and Eddie scrunched up his nose.

Bev turned to them. “Oh like you are any less nauseating.” She said with a raised eyebrow.

From behind Beverly, Stan said, “Richard? Nauseating? About time you realized.”

Richie laughed, “Stan the man, always the sweet talker. Where is your better half?”

“Mike had to go home to shower and change after practice. He should be here soon.”

“Only you get to see him all flushed and sweaty, huh?” Richie leered.

Stan didn’t dignify Richie’s comment with an answer, he turned his attention to Eddie instead, “You must be Eddie.” He nodded and Stan extended his hand, “I’m Stanley Uris.”

Eddie took his hand and shook it, “Nice to meet you, Stanley.” He said with a nervous smile.

“Likewise, it’s nice to finally meet the guy Richie hasn’t been able to shut up about.”

Eddie let out a nervous giggle, but tried to cover it up with a cough. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Richie glaring at Stan, a faint blush in his cheeks.

“I can confirm that to be true.” Bev said, “You’re all he ever talks about.”

“God fucking damn it you two, stop embarrassing me.” Richie exclaimed.

“Oh, but it’s so _adorable_ that you talk about me all the time.” Eddie grinned at him, he enjoyed being the one making Richie blush, when usually it was the other way around.

“Well, I can confirm Eddie is just as bad.” Ben said.

“Ben!”

This caught Richie’s interest, “Do tell me more, Ben my man. What does my Eddie Spaghetti say about me?” Eddie saw Stan cringe at the nickname, he could definitely understand the feeling.

“Well, he has this _crazy_ obsession with your hair. He’s always talking about how soft it looks and how-”

“Oh yeah? You want to run your fingers through my gorgeous hair, Eds?” Richie joked, moving his head from side to side so that his curls moved around and waggling his eyebrows at the same time.

“Is that supposed to be attractive? You look like you’re having a seizure.” Stan said, making Beverly laugh.

Eddie didn’t pay Richie any attention, he just glared at Ben trying to set him on fire with only the force of his mind. Ben ignored him.

“He also loves the fact that you’re taller than him. He tries to deny it, but the truth is that it-”

“Ben writes poetry about Beverly!” Eddie shouted, effectively shutting Ben up before he could say just how the height difference between him and Richie made him feel.

Ben’s face turned a deep red color and Beverly’s cheeks were a little pink too. The silence that followed was interrupted by Stan letting out a loud laugh.

“This is so entertaining. I can’t believe Mike is not here to see it.” He said, shaking his head in amusement.

Bev turned towards Ben and asked, “Do you really write poetry about me?”

“Uh, yeah, sometimes. When inspiration strikes.” Ben answered, nervously.

Bev smiled softly at him, “I’d love to see it sometime. If you’re okay with that.”

“Really? I mean, yes, of course.” Ben said with a smile of his own.

Richie looked at Eddie, “Do you really like that I’m taller than you?”

But instead of a soft answer, what he got was Eddie pointing a threatening finger at him and saying, “You joke about this even once and I’ll choke you.”

And because Richie has no sense of self preservation, he smirked and said, “Wow, my Eds is kinky. I like it.”

Eddie’s flustered face was definitely worth the elbow to the side he got in response.  

Shortly after, Bev was called over by someone. She excused herself after thanking Eddie for the present again. She told him she would open it later and that he should make himself at home.

“I should put the ice in the cooler before it melts.” Richie said, after she had left, dragging Ben with her. “And get myself a drink in the process. Do you want anything, Eds?”

“A beer. Please.”

“Sure thing, babe.” Richie said with a wink before heading to the kitchen, leaving Eddie alone with Stan.

Unconsciously Eddie’s eyes had followed Richie, a soft smile on his face. Once he was out of sight, he turned his attention to Stan, only to find him smirking at him.

“I see Richie is not the only one who’s smitten.”

Blushing, Eddie said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you don’t.” He said, taking a sip from his drink. Eddie wished he had one too, so that he had something to do other than just stand there, awkwardly playing with his hands.

Needing a change in the subject, he said, “Uh, Richie told me you two have been best friends forever.”

Stan snorted at Eddie’s lack of subtlety when it came to changing the subject, but didn’t comment on it. Instead, he said, “We have, yeah. I can barely remember what my life was like before I met him.”

“If I had to guess, I’d say it was quieter and one hundred percent more peaceful.”

Stan chuckled, “Definitely. But also more boring too. Richie has a way of making your life more entertaining.”

“He sure does. How did you two become friends?”

“It happened when I was seven, I think. I didn’t have any friends then, mostly because I hated getting dirty, so during recess I would crawl inside one of those tunnels you see on most playgrounds and read. One day I was there and this messy kid crawls inside, panting and disheveled from running.” There was a smile in Stan’s face as he told the story. “He sees me and stops. Looks down at my book and my clean clothes and adjusts his huge glasses, even then he was blind as a bat, before asking me if I was hiding too. I tell him that I like the tunnels because kids don’t bother me there and I can read.  He clearly missed the sarcasm because he goes and sits in front of me and starts telling me that a couple of bigger kids are after him, which is why he needed a place to hide.”

“Oh God, what did he do?” Eddie asks, amused.

“He dumped a bucket full of sand and water on one of the kids after he purposefully stepped on a girl’s sand castle. Then to make it worse and like the trashmouth he is, he insulted the kid’s mother.”

“That’s Richie, alright.” Eddie said, with a chuckle.

“Yes. So I tell him he can hide there if he promises to be quiet, something we both know he is incapable of doing. So of course, he starts to talk and doesn’t stop until recess is over. The next day, he finds me in the tunnels again, this time he had some sandwiches his mom had made for him, so he shared them with me in exchange of me letting him hang out there. Somehow it became routine, he would bring me food and sit there, talking my ear off. Sometimes if he was tired or upset he would sit next to me and I would read to him about the birds in my book. And sometimes, I’d actually put the book down and talk to him or we would play cards or silly hand clapping games. Next thing I know, I’m stuck with him for life.” Stan finished with a chuckle.

“What are you guys talking about?” Richie asked, walking towards them.

“Eddie wanted to know how you and I met.”

“Ah yes, the story of how I charmed the most uptight seven-year-old ever with my jokes and good looks.” Richie said, handing Eddie one of the beer bottles he was carrying and throwing the arm that wasn’t holding his, around Eddie’s shoulders.

“You didn’t charm me. You invaded my hiding place and stuck to me like a leech. A very loud, vulgar leech.”

“And yet, here we are, almost fifteen years later, and you still haven’t gotten rid of me. Why? Because you loooove me, Stanley.”

Stan snorted, “Whatever you say, Trashmouth.”

Eddie laughed at their banter, attracting their attention. “Were you the one who came up with that nickname?” He asked Stan.

“It was both me and Beverly. We figured we should return the favor, since he’s always making up silly nicknames for us.”

“I know the feeling.” Eddie replied, rolling his eyes.

“Aw Eddie Spaghetti, but you love my nicknames.” Richie said, pulling Eddie closer to him.

Eddie snorted, “No, Rich. I definitely don’t.”

Stan interrupted their argument, “So, I know how you two met. Richie was kind enough to tell me the story of that magical night, his words, not mine. But how do you and Ben know each other?”

“Funnily enough he was also running away from a bunch of kids when he literally stumbled upon Bill, my other best friend and me. We were building, well _trying to_ build a dam when this bruised and bloodied kid came out from the bushes. We helped him get home and invited him to play with us the next day. He helped us build the dam, he is great at creating and designing things, it was no surprise when he decided to major as an architect. Anyways, we actually ended up flooding part of our town that time. The three of us have been inseparable ever since.” Eddie related.

“You know, you told me that story the day we met.” Richie said, looking down at him with a soft smile.

Eddie scrunched up his nose, “I did?” Richie nodded, “Huh. I don’t remember.”

“Well, you were a bit buzzed. I remember perfectly though, I called you a rebel and you started giggling, it was incredibly cute.”

“You say everything I do is cute.”

“That’s because it’s the truth, Eddie my love.” Richie said. They were looking at each other, soft smiles on both of their faces.

Stan groaned, “I thought lovestruck Richie was bad, but seeing the two of you making heart eyes at each other is ten times worse.”

“You’re just jealous, Stanley.” Richie said, sticking his tongue out and making faces at him.

Stan snorted, “What are you? Twelve?”

“Yes. On a scale of one to ten, bitch. HA!” Richie replied, with a smug smile on his face.

To both Richie and Eddie’s surprise, Stan actually chuckled at that. He tried to cover it with a cough, but Richie had already noticed it.

“Did you just-” Richie gawked. Then he turned to Eddie, “Did he just laugh at one of my jokes?”

“I think he did.’

“I did not.”

“Oh but you did, Stan the man.” Richie said, smirking. “And I’m never letting this go. Whenever you say I’m not hilarious, I will remind you of this fucking moment.” He let go of Eddie to wrap his arm around Stan instead and ruffled his hair. Stan tried pushing him away, but Richie wouldn’t let go. He tried to look annoyed but Eddie could see that he was fighting off a smile.

Stan caught Eddie looking at him and, still tucked against Richie’s side, he said, “You better run now or this is what you’ll get stuck with.”

Eddie shrugged his shoulders and smiling at Richie, he said, “I think I’m okay with that.”

Richie stopped harassing Stan to look at Eddie, a delighted expression on his face. Stan was also looking at him, amused. Feeling their eyes on him, Eddie started to blush and fidget under their stares.

Richie let go of Stan and practically jumped on Eddie, a bad idea considering they still had their drinks in their hands and Richie was almost a foot taller than Eddie.

He wrapped his arms around Eddie’s shoulders and started peppering his face with kisses. Eddie stumbled back due to Richie’s weight and he felt his beer bottle almost slip before he gripped it tighter. Richie’s glasses kept hitting his face and the kisses kept tickling him, but Eddie was giggling and instead of pushing Richie away, he had wrapped his arms around his waist.

“Rich, stop it.” He said in between giggles.

“Oh but Eddie Spaghetti, you just said you could live with this.”

“God, I take it back.” Eddie chuckled.

Eddie heard Stan say something and someone else answer, but since Richie covered his entire line of vision, he couldn’t see who he was talking to.

“What is Richie doing now?”

“Being annoying, as per usual.” Stan replied.

“Is that Eddie?”

He heard Stan hum in response. Richie must have heard the conversation too because he placed one last kiss, this time on Eddie’s mouth and took a step back from him.  

Eddie could feel the heat coming off his flushed cheeks and the silly smile on his face. He drank from his beer bottle, hoping it would cool him down. Richie turned around and smiled widely.

“Mikey! You’re here!” He exclaimed and went to hug the man standing next to Stan. Eddie was surprised to see Mike was just as tall as Richie, but whereas Richie was lanky, Mike was built and muscular.

“We saw each other a few hours ago, Rich.” Mike chuckled, but he still returned the hug.

“I’m always happy to see you, Mike.” Richie replied, making his friend smile.

Mike patted Richie in the back and stepped away from him. His eyes focused on Eddie and he smiled kindly at him.

“Hi, I’m Mike Hanlon.” He said, offering his hand.

Eddie took it and smiled back, “I’m Eddie Kaspbrak. Nice to meet you, Mike.”

“You too, Eddie. I-”

“Mike! Finally!” They heard Bev shout and Mike turned his attention to her.

“There’s our birthday girl!”

Bev tackled Mike with a hug. It appeared Richie wasn’t the only one of his friends who loved hugs.

“How was practice?” She said, still hugging him.

Mike huffed, “Long. And hard.”

“Oh, I’ll show you something long and hard.” Richie snickered.

Eddie snorted and sipped on his beer to try and hide his smile. He heard Bev laugh and Mike let out a chuckle.

“Fucking Trashmouth.” Stan groaned, shaking his head.

“What? Mike fucking walked into that one.”

“He kinda did.” Bev chuckled and stepped away from Mike. “Eddie, honey, I opened your present. And if your goal was to win me over, you totally did. Thank you so much.” She said and kissed Eddie on the cheek.

“You’re welcome, Beverly.”

“Oh, please, call me Bev, hon.” She said, winking at him. “Hey, Mike, come meet Ben. He’s in the kitchen talking to Abby, apparently engineer and architect majors have a lot to talk about.” She chuckled, “We’ll get you a drink while we’re there.”

“Alright. We’ll be back.” Mike said.

“I’m coming with you. My glass is almost empty.” Stan said, following the two of them.

That left only Richie and Eddie.

“You want another drink, babe?”

Eddie sipped on his beer, “Still not done with this one.”

“Are you having a good time? Are my friends getting on your nerves yet?” Richie joked, but Eddie could tell he was nervous.

Hoping to calm him down, Eddie wrapped his arms around Richie’s waist and looked up at him, “Your friends are great, Rich. Just like you.”

With the hand he wasn’t using to hold his beer bottle, Richie cupped Eddie’s face, “ _You_ are great. And I’m so fucking happy you came, Eds.”

Eddie smiled, “I’m happy too. How about you give me a tour, huh?”

Richie face palmed, “What an idiot.  I totally forgot. Follow me, Eds, babe. Let me show you La Casa de Tozier.”

Eddie chuckled but followed him anyway. Richie showed him around, occasionally saying hi to the people he knew from Bev’s classes or her job at the record store. The apartment wasn’t that big so it didn’t take long before the only thing left to show Eddie was Richie’s room. 

Inside, Eddie found exactly what he had expected. The room was a perfect combination between messy and neat. The bed was unmade and there were some clothes on the floor. As for the desk, the bookcase and the record collection, those were completely organized. There were also several posters of movies and bands on the walls, some Eddie recognized, some he didn’t.  He walked around the room while Richie stared at him, expectantly, leaning against the closed door.

Uneasy with the silence, Richie spoke, “I’m sorry for the mess. I didn’t think I would get you in my room. I mean, of course, I hoped but-”

Eddie chuckled, “I have to admit it’s less messy than I thought it would be.” Richie started to protest, “You don’t exactly scream organized to me. And I’ve seen the inside of your car, Rich.”

Richie shrugged. “I guess you’re right. You don’t mind? I mean, you’re kind of a clean freak.”

“I am not!” Eddie protested.

“Eds I’ve seen your apartment.” Richie said, skeptically. “Your bathroom is cleaner than my kitchen.”

“Yeah, well I like order. That doesn’t mean I don’t like your room too. Because I do, it’s really… you. And I like you, so.”

“Aw Eds, you keep sweet-talking me like this, we’ll end up adding a few more clothes to the pile on the floor.” Richie said with a wink.

Eddie snorted, “Shut up.”

Richie smiled and moved closer to him, “Make me.”

“You already used that line, Rich.”

“And if I recall correctly, it worked in my favor.”

“You hoping for the same result?”

“I can’t say I would complain.” Richie said, placing his hands on Eddie’s hips.

Eddie smiled up at him before going on his tiptoes and kissing him. Richie pulled Eddie closer and seeing as he was balancing on his tiptoes, Eddie grabbed onto Richie’s arms to steady himself.

The kiss was soft as first, just a press of lips until Eddie parted his lips and Richie took that as a chance to deepen it. Even then, he kissed Eddie gently and as much as he loved it, Eddie found himself wanting more, so he knotted his fists in Richie’s shirt, pulling him closer against him and kissing him harder. Richie kissed him back just as passionately.

When his hands shifted on Eddie’s hips, it tickled him and made him giggle into Richie’s mouth.

“What’s so funny?” Richie whispered without moving back, his lips brushing Eddie’s when he spoke.

“Just ticklish.” Eddie answered, nudging his nose against Richie’s.

“How is it possible for you to get even cuter?” Richie said, with a smile. With how close he was, he was able to see in detail Eddie’s blush slowly creeping up his face. He squeezed Eddie’s side, this time on purpose, making him laugh again.

“Hey! Stop that.” Eddie chuckled, grabbing Richie’s hands.

“Sorry, couldn’t resist.” Richie said, completely unapologetic. He moved his hands from Eddie’s waist to his face and kissed him again. Eddie returned the second kiss just as eagerly as the first one.

They were so preoccupied with their kissing, they didn’t notice the door opening until someone cleared their throat. They broke apart and turned around to find Stan and Mike, both smirking at them.

“Fucking hell guys, ever heard of knocking?” Richie said, moving to stand next to Eddie, both of them flushed from the kiss but also from being caught making out in his room.

“We did knock. Twice.” Stan said.

Richie frowned, “You did?”

Mike nodded, “My guess is you and Eddie were too busy to notice.” He said with a smirk. Then he added, “I thought Ben and Beverly would be the firsts to disappear and go make out somewhere.”

“I didn’t. I knew it would be these two. I know Richard. He is like a hormonal fifteen- year-old.”

Richie gasped, “How dare you! I’ll have you know it was actually Eddie who dragged me in here and seduced me.”

“Richie!” Eddie exclaimed, slapping his arm.

He ignored him, “I told him we shouldn’t hide in here, but he looked at me with his big brown eyes and his adorable smile, how could I resist?"

Stan snorted and Mike smiled, amused. Eddie, on the other hand, was glaring at Richie.

“You suck.” Eddie muttered.

A glint appeared on Richie’s eyes, “If you give me a chance, I’ll show just how good I’m at sucking.” he said, winking.

Eddie spluttered and proceeded to hit him again. Richie laughed and put his arm around his shoulders, for the hundredth time that day. Eddie groaned but didn’t push him away.

“Alright, c’mon you two. Outside we go. After all you’re here to get to know us, Eddie not Richie’s tonsils.” Mike joked.

Richie burst into laughter, “Mike, my man, gets off a good one!”

Eddie, whose face was a dark shade of red by now, grabbed Richie’s hand and dragged him out of the room, following Stan and Mike.

They joined Ben and Bev, who were sitting on the couch eating pizza.

“Hey, guys. Pizza is here.” Ben said, pointing at the table, where several boxes of pizza were already opened. “You better grab some now, before it’s gone.”

“I’m getting another drink from the kitchen, who wants one?” Mike asked. Both Richie and Eddie accepted the offer, since they had forgotten their bottles in Richie’s room.

“Go sit, Eds, I’ll get you a slice.” Richie told Eddie.

Stan had sat down next to Ben and Bev on the long couch, so Eddie took his place on the single couch. Once Richie grabbed his and Eddie’s pizza, he perched up on the arm of the couch Eddie was sitting in and handed him the plate.

“Thanks, Rich.”

“You’re welcome, babe.”

When Mike came back, he handed them their drinks and sat down on the floor, his back against Stan’s legs.

“So, where were you two?” Bev asked Richie and Eddie.

Richie choked on his drink and Eddie laughed nervously. And before either of them could answer, Stan said, “They were making out in Richie’s bedroom.”

At that Beverly burst out laughing and Ben snickered, covering his mouth with his hand.

“Seriously? Way to keep it in your pants, boys.” Bev said, amused.

“Like you get to talk. Just earlier today I walked in on you and Ben.” Richie said.

“What?” Mike asked, turning to face the two of them.

“Uh, in our defense, we didn’t know Richie was home.” Ben said.

Mike turned to Stan, “Does that mean I win?”

Stan shook his head, “We said _during_ the party, not before or after. You still owe me dinner.”

“What are you two talking about?” Bev asked.

Eddie groaned, “They bet over which of us would disappear first from the party to make out. Stan bet on us.”

“Therefore, Michael owes me dinner.” Stan said, smugly.

“Your bets are boring. Why not bet something more interesting? Like, say a blow-”

“And…. you’re done.” Eddie said, covering Richie’s mouth with his hand before he could finish the sentence.

Richie then proceeded to lick Eddie’s palm, making him squeal as he pulled it away and all of his friends to explode in laughter.

They spent the rest of the night talking with each other. Every once in a while, someone else would join them or one of them would excuse themselves to go to the kitchen or the bathroom, but overall, it was the six of them.

They discovered they had a lot in common and that they really enjoyed talking to each other. Both Mike and Ben were huge book worms and history nerds, they discovered that they both worked at the public library, but somehow had never crossed paths before. Eddie was fascinated with Bev’s designs and they got into a long conversation regarding fashion, a subject they were both very passionate about. Richie and Ben talked about how they both enjoyed writing. Richie already knew Ben wrote poetry, so he told Ben about how he liked to write song lyrics. That led to a conversation about music, which turned into them bonding over their guilty pleasure: boybands. Stan’s love for bird-watching came up and Eddie told him about a book called “The Wonder of Birds” that he had been reading during his breaks at the bookstore or when there weren’t a lot of customers. Turns out, Stan had been looking for that book for weeks and he made Eddie promise to hide a copy, so that he could go get it as soon as possible.

All in all, the party was a success when it came to the six of them getting to know each other and by the time they brought out the birthday cake for Beverly, they felt as if they had known each other their entire lives.  

After they sang ’Happy birthday’ and Bev blew off the candles in the midst of cheers and chants, the party started to die down. Eventually, it was just the six of them in the apartment. They took it upon themselves to clean up the place, luckily there wasn’t much to clean up. While they did it, Richie put on some music and they ended up working in between singing, dancing and laughing. By the time they were done, they were all tired.

“I think Stan and I are calling it a night, guys. We’re pretty beat.” Mike said.

“Yeah, unlike your lazy asses I had work today and Mike had his football practice.” Stan added.

While they said goodbye to Eddie and Ben, Richie approached Bev, “So, I noticed Ben brought a bag with him. I saw it earlier, when I walked in on you. Is he planning to stay?”

Bev nodded, “Is that okay?”

“You live here too, Bev. You can have whoever you want over.” Richie said, bumping his shoulder with hers. “I only asked to know if I should let you have the apartment all to yourselves.”

“And where would you go?”

“Eddie was willing to let me stay over last time and we’ve just met. Hopefully the offer still stands.”

Bev looked up at him, “Are you sure?”

Richie snorted, “Like leaving with Eds is such a hardship.”

Bev laughed, then she got on her tiptoes and kissed Richie’s cheek, “Thanks, love.”

“Anything for the birthday girl.” He said, winking.

He and Bev said goodbye to Mike and Stan next. Before leaving, Mike turned to Ben and Eddie and said, “It was really great meeting you guys. We definitely have to do this again sometime.”

“Absolutely.” Ben said, patting Mike on the shoulder.

After they left, Richie dragged Eddie to the kitchen under the pretense of getting more cake.

“You already had two pieces, Rich.” Eddie said, disapprovingly, but he still grabbed one for himself as well as one for Richie. They sat on opposite sides of the counter to eat them.

“Hey Eds?”

“Hm?”

“Did you know Ben is staying here tonight?”

“Yeah, he told me.”

“Okay, well I told Bev that I could give them space, you know, sleep somewhere else. And by somewhere else I meant-”

“My place?” Eddie asked.

“Uh, yeah.” Richie said, sheepishly. “I mean you can say no, if you don’t want to, of course.”

“Where would you sleep then?”

“Uh, the floor outside the apartment? I’ve slept there before and it’s not that bad.”

“I want to ask why you know that but I’m afraid of the answer.” Eddie said, confused.

Richie snorted, “It’s a funny story really. I’ll tell you about it some other time. Uh, right now, I’d like to know if I need to get my sleeping bag or a change of clothes.”

Eddie rolled his eyes, “I’m not letting you sleep on the floor in the hall, Rich. You can stay at my place."

“Really? That’s okay?”

“Sure, after all I was willing to let you stay over last time, even though I’d met you like an hour before, so this is definitely an upgrade.” Eddie chuckled.

Richie jumped off the counter and kissed Eddie’s cheek, “I’ll get my stuff.”

Eddie grimaced, “Gross, Richie, your mouth is all sticky from the cake.” In response, Richie just laughed and went to his bedroom to gather his things.

Ten minutes later, they were both saying goodbye to Beverly and Ben.

“Thank you so much for coming, Eddie. And for the present. And for putting up with that idiot.” Bev said, after hugging him for the third time that night.

“You’re welcome, Bev. And thank you for inviting me, I had a great time.”

“I’m glad you did. Hopefully we didn’t scare you off and you’ll come back sometime.”

“No, no, you were all great. Next time, I might ditch Richie and hang out with you all instead.” Eddie and Bev laughed.

“Hey! I heard that!” Richie protested. Then he turned back to Ben and said, “Anyway, next time we see each other, you’re helping me with those song lyrics, they definitely need a poet’s touch.”

“Sure thing, Richie. I’m not sure I can be of much help but I can try.”

“You’re one of the good ones, Ben my man. I like you.” Richie patted him in the back. “But you know the drill right? If you hurt Bev-”

“You will kick my ass?”

“Uh, no. Bev told be you were a wrestler so I’m not taking any chances. She, on the other hand, would definitely kick your ass and I would be cheering for her from a safe distance, but the threat still stands.”

Ben laughed, “Duly noted. Same with you and Eddie. Don’t let the short frame and the cute smile fool you, he has a crazy amount of anger and he will use it against you, if you hurt him.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Richie said, sincerely.

“Good.”

“Rich, you ready to go?” Eddie asked him, opening the front door.

“Absolutely, Eds. You two crazy kids, behave, alright? Good night.” Richie said, before he and Eddie left the apartment.

They didn’t talk much while Richie drove them to Eddie’s place. They were both tired, Eddie especially considering he had had classes and work and it was already a quarter past midnight. When Richie parked and turned off the car, Eddie was already asleep.

“Eds, we’re here.” Richie gently nudged him awake.

“What?” Eddie looked around and saw where they were, “Oh, right. Okay.”

Once, inside the apartment, Eddie went straight to his bedroom, with Richie in tow.

“Is Bill home?”

“Yeah, he’s probably asleep already, but don’t worry he’s a heavy sleeper. Ben and I, well, mostly me to be honest, would pull pranks on him all the time when we slept over. He never woke up until it was too late.” Eddie chuckled.

“Oh, Eds, you naughty boy.” Richie said with a laugh.

Once in the bedroom, Eddie grabbed some sleeping clothes from his closet and turned to Richie, “I’m gonna use the bathroom and get ready for bed. You can change here if you want.”

Richie nodded and Eddie left him alone. He went through his backpack and took out his pijamas, which consisted of a pair of sweatpants and an old band t-shirt. Usually he slept shirtless and with only his boxers but he thought that was too risky for their first time sharing a bed. He changed quickly and sat on the bed, playing with his phone while he waited for Eddie.

He came in a few minutes later, carrying a pillow in his arms and dragging a blanket behind him.

“I stole this from Bill’s room, he didn’t even flinch.” Eddie said, with a smile and dropped the items on the bed, “You can use the bathroom if you want, I’ll get the bed ready.”

Richie looked up from his phone and almost bit off his tongue upon seeing Eddie’s sleeping clothes. He was wearing the shortest, tightest sleeping shorts Richie had ever seen and a shirt that was most definitely not his, considering it was huge on him and kept falling off his shoulder.

“Richie?” Eddie asked confused, while crawling on the bed and towards Richie. “You okay?”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You spaced out back there.”

“Sorry. Just tired, that’s all.” Richie shrugged.

“Well the bathroom is all yours. Once you get back, we can go to bed.”

Richie nodded and stood up, before grabbing his toothbrush and leaving the room, embarrassed over how hard it had been to tear his eyes away from Eddie’s figure. He had been so preoccupied with it, that he hadn’t noticed the way Eddie’s own eyes had lingered on his low-slung sweatpants and worn out t-shirt, which didn’t leave much to the imagination.

When Richie came back, Eddie was already under the covers, checking his phone while he waited for him. Richie closed the door, got under the blanket Eddie laid out for him on the left side of the bed and took off his glasses, placing them on the bedside table, next to some books.

Eddie turned on his side, facing Richie and gasped. Richie couldn’t see his expression clearly, since his glasses were off but he heard the sound, “What is it?”

“Uh, nothing, I’ve never seen you without your glasses, that’s all.”

Richie’s eyes widened, “Oh. Right. Uh, surprise, I guess.” He chuckled.

“I like it. I can see all your freckles.” Eddie whispered, “And without the glasses magnifying your eyes, it’s easier to see how pretty they are.”

Richie cleared his throat, nervous, “They’re just eyes, Eds. Brown, dull, uneven eyes.”

Eddie sighed, “I’m trying to give you a compliment here, Rich, deal with it. They’re not dull, maybe a little uneven and definitely brown, but pretty all the same.”

Richie snorted, “If you say so. Yours are prettier though. Anyone can see that.”

“Can _you_ see that?” Eddie asked, laughing, “You’re squinting so much right now, your eyes are almost fully closed.”

“I mean, I can’t right now. I can’t see anything right now, but I still know it’s true.” Eddie laughed at that. “Hey, it’s not nice to laugh at my shitty sight.” Richie said, trying to glare at Eddie with his eyes still closed, which made for a really funny picture.

Still laughing, Eddie said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” His laughter was interrupted with a yawn. “Oh God, I’m so tired.”

“Fuck, me too. As much as I would love to gaze lovingly into your eyes all night I think we should sleep, Eddie Spaghetti.”

“Okay, first of all, I’m pretty sure I’m just a blurry blob to you right now.”

“A very cute, blurry blob though.”

“Second of all, don’t call me that.”

“A reasonable request, yet impossible for me to fulfill.”

“Third of all, you’re right. We should go to sleep.”

“I like it when you say I’m right, Eds. It pushes all the right buttons.”

Eddie snorted, before using his elbow to push himself from the bed long enough to press his lips to Richie’s mouth in a short kiss.

“Goodnight, Rich.” He said. Then he rolled over, his back to Richie, turned off the bedside lamp, leaving them both in total darkness.

“Goodnight, Eds.” Richie answered, before closing his eyes.

A few minutes later, he heard Eddie’s voice again, “I had a great time today, you know? I really like your friends and you, obviously. And I had fun.”

Richie, who had been close to falling asleep, chuckled lightly, “Not bad for a second date, huh?”

“No, not bad.” Eddie answered, then he seemed to realize what he was saying and added, “Wait, no. This wasn’t our second date.”

“You’re right. It’s more like our third.” Richie joked.

“No. We already talked about this. This was not a date. I’m taking you out on our official second date… someday, somewhere. And it’s going to be awesome.” Eddie replied, stubbornly.

Richie laughed, “Whatever you say, Eds.” He closed his eyes and started to drift off, “Whatever you say.”

And if Eddie said anything else after that, Richie didn’t know because he had already fallen asleep, with a smile still on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it took me a while to write this chapter. I hope it was worth the wait and that you enjoy reading this!
> 
> As usual, let me know what you think, whether it be on a comment or a message on tumblr @jem-carstairs-is-perfection it’s your choice, I just want to know if you guys liked it <3
> 
> (Again, I have not forgotten about Bill, he will meet the rest of the losers eventually, I promise!)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which, Richie and Eddie spend a morning together. Also featuring a chance encounter with Eddie a couple of days later, in which Richie finally meets Bill.

The next day Eddie woke up to the sun shining on his face. In the rush to go to bed last night he had forgotten to close the curtains and now the sunlight was streaming in through the window. He tried to roll over, planning to pull the blankets over his face and continue sleeping, but when he tried to do that he found himself trapped under a heavy weight.

Eddie opened his eyes and squinted at the light but was still able to make out a mop of black hair lying on his chest. He couldn’t see a lot past that, but he could feel Richie’s breath against his skin, one of his arms wrapped around Eddie’s waist and the way their legs were intertwined. He could also hear Richie’s light snores, which made him chuckle.

One of Eddie’s hands went over his face, to protect his eyes from the sunlight. The other one settled on Richie’s curls. He felt him stiffen up and Eddie worried that he had woken him up, but soon enough his breathing evened out and he relaxed into Eddie again.

Eddie should have expected Richie would be a cuddler. They had gone to sleep in opposite sides of the bed but somehow Richie had ended up on top of Eddie, completely locking him in place, not that he was complaining, though.

He didn’t know how long he laid there, running his hand through Richie’s hair and smiling at the ceiling, but at some point he started falling asleep again. Before he could, though, there was a knock on his door.

Eddie groaned in response, but whoever was knocking didn’t hear him because they did it again not long after.

“Yeah?” Eddie mumbled.

“Eddie? You awake?” Bill asked from the other side of the door.

“Obviously.”

He heard Bill mutter, “Smartass” and then the door opened and Bill’s head popped in. “I didn’t hear you come in last night.”

“You never do.”

“I wasn’t sure if you were even home, I—”

Eddie saw the moment Bill noticed someone else was in bed with him, his eyes widened and he choked on his spit.

Eddie shushed him before he could wake Richie up.

“Oh, uh I didn’t— I didn’t know someone else was here.” Bill said, averting his eyes.

Eddie chuckled. “We’re both dressed, don’t worry.”

“Oh, so uh, last night—”

Eddie scrunched up his nose. “No, Bill, we have a deal. No sex while the other is in the apartment.”

“I mean it’s not like I would have heard anything if you— you know.”

Eddie groaned. “Can we stop talking about this?”

“Yes. So, this is Richie, huh?”

Eddie nodded, a small smile creeping on his face. “He needed a place to say after his friend’s party last night.”

“And you were, oh so happy to have him stay over?” Bill asked, smirking.

“Shut up, Bill.” Eddie replied. “Did you need anything?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m meeting Audra for breakfast, I was going to ask if you’d like to join us.”

“Breakfast sounds great but I’m kind of trapped at the moment.” Eddie said. Richie chose that moment to tighten his grip around Eddie’s waist and bury his head further in his chest.

Then, with his voice hoarse from sleep, Richie muttered, “Eds?”

“Morning, Rich.”

“No. Not yet, you’re too comfy.” Richie mumbled, making Eddie smile softly at his head.

Bill snorted. “I’ll leave you and your boyfriend to your cuddling then.”

“Tell Audra I’m sorry.” Eddie said. “And he’s not my boyfriend.”

“Sure thing, Ed. I’ll see you later.” Bill said, unconvinced.

Eddie waved and Bill left the room with a final wave.

The noise of the door closing startled Richie, who lifted his head and stared at Eddie. There were sleep marks on his face, his hair was a mess and his eyes were almost fully closed, half from sleep and half from him squinting at Eddie.

“I could wake up to this sight every day.”

Eddie chuckled. “I’m pretty sure you can’t see anything right now.”

He propped his chin on Eddie’s chest. “You’re right and I want to get my glasses so I can see your cute little face, but I don’t want to move.”

“How did you end up here anyway?”

“I move around a lot when I sleep, I should’ve told you that last night.”

One of Eddie’s hands was playing with Richie’s fingers where they laid on his chest, while the other one kept playing with Richie’s hair.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” Eddie said with a smile, even though he didn’t know how much of his face Richie could make out without his glasses.

“Did I hear you talking to someone? Or was I dreaming?”

“Bill came in to invite me to go get breakfast with him and his girlfriend.”

“Oh, and what did he have to say about me being in bed with you?”

Eddie laughed. “He couldn’t close his eyes fast enough, he thought we were naked.”

“I would be okay with that.” Richie said, with a grin.

“Shut up.” Eddie scoffed. “After I convinced him we didn’t have sex last night he moved on to teasing me.”

Richie pouted. “I wished I was awake for that, there’s nothing I like more than teasing my Eddie Spaghetti,” He said, poking Eddie’s side.

Eddie yelped and tried to push Richie off of him, but was unsuccessful.

“Get off me, you big lanky octopus!” Eddie said, laughing and pushing at him.

Richie used both of his arms to hold Eddie in place, laughing as he did.

“You said you didn’t mind!” Richie said, struggling. Eddie might’ve been small but he sure as all hell was strong.

“I changed my mind!” Eddie squealed when Richie moved on from keeping him down to tickling him. “Ri- _chie!_ Stop!”

In between laughter, Eddie finally managed to roll out from under Richie, but ended up rolling off the bed and into the floor in the process.

“Oh shit.” Richie muttered and from his spot on the floor, Eddie heard him shuffle around and then his head popped over the edge of the bed, now wearing his glasses and smiling sheepishly at Eddie. “You okay down there, babe?”

Eddie groaned and sat up. Luckily for him, his bed wasn’t that tall so the fall wasn’t that bad.

“I can’t believe you just threw me off my own bed.”

“Technically, you threw yourself off your bed.” Richie offered. “I wouldn’t do that, I love being in bed with you. In fact, come back here.” He said, making grabby hands at Eddie.

It made the boy chuckle and he kneeled on the floor so that he was at eye level with Richie’s face. He cradled his face in his hands and kissed his cheek.

“I would love too but I’m starving and breakfast isn't going to make itself.” Eddie told him.

Richie frowned. “But you can’t cook.”

“Which is why I’m counting on _you_ to follow me and do the cooking yourself.” Eddie said, standing up and walking towards the door.

The action drew Richie’s attention to Eddie’s sleeping clothes. Over the night, he had forgotten just how good Eddie looked in that loose shirt and those red shorts.

Richie hoped he didn’t whine out loud at the sight, but then Eddie stopped by the door and leaned against the frame, popping his hip in a way that told Richie he knew exactly what he was doing to him.

With an innocent expression Richie was _not_ buying, he said, “You coming, babe?”

Richie groaned. “If you want me to cook breakfast, you’re gonna have to change, Eds, because there’s no way I’m fucking concentrating if you’re wearing that.”

“Only if you take off those sweatpants.” Eddie replied. Richie’s eyes widened and he choked on his spit. Eddie realized how his words sounded and he blushed. “Change _out_ of those sweatpants, I mean. Like you take them off but then put something else on.” Eddie said, gesturing wildly and stammering nervously. He covered his face with his hands. “I’m gonna go now, yeah.”

Eddie left the room, shaking his head in embarrassment.

Richie groaned again and fell back on the bed. “So fucking adorable.” He muttered. “And smoking hot, Jesus H. Christ.”

-♥-

In the end, neither of them change, which is why it took them a while to finally sit down to eat their breakfast.

“So, when are you taking me out?” Richie asked, after shoving a spoonful of eggs in his mouth.

Eddie scrunched up his nose. “When you learn how to swallow before speaking.”

“Oh, I promise, Eds, I _can_ swallow.” Richie said, while aggressively waggling his eyebrows.

Eddie choked on his orange juice and had to cough a few times before he could speak. “You’re terrible. And you want me to take you out in public?”

“ _You_ wanted to take me out, Eds. _You_ asked _me_ out.” Richie said, smiling smugly.

“I could always change my mind.” Eddie threatened, but it was an empty threat and they both knew it.

“You won’t. You like me too much.” Richie said. They continued eating and when he spoke again, he made sure that his mouth was empty beforehand. “So, tell me. What does Eddie Kaspbrak do on Saturdays?”

“Not much. Homework, mostly. Later today, I have to drive Bill to work, but that’s about it.”

“Sounds boring.” Richie said, after considering it.

Eddie scoffed. “What about you? Are your Saturdays really that interesting?”

Richie waved him off. “Nah. I don’t do anything on Saturdays. I usually sleep until well past noon, laze around all day and then go to the radio station.”

“You woke up early today, then.” Eddie noted. It was around 10 AM and they had been awake for almost an hour already.

“Contrary to Bill, I’m a very light sleeper.”

Eddie cringed. “So we woke you up?” Richie nodded. “In my defense, it was Bill’s fault. I was content to just lie there for hours.”

“Aw, Eds. You like being in bed with me?” Richie cooed.

Eddie stuck his tongue out at him, but didn’t deny it. The two of them were almost done with their breakfast which consisted of eggs, toast and some bacon Eddie found in the confines of his refrigerator.

Richie was on his last bite when his phone ringed. A reminder. He glanced at the screen wondering what it was about and frowned.

“Shit.” He muttered. Eddie looked up and glanced at him, questioningly. “Uh, I just got a reminder that I have an essay due on Monday and I completely forgot. Shit.”

“Essay on what?”

“History of the women’s rights in the 19th century.” Richie said, seeing Eddie’s question written on his face. “Bev wanted to take it and I thought, why not join her?”

“Do you like it?”

Richie nodded. “Classes are really interesting. And the professor is this super cool lady. She knows so much. And she usually doesn’t leave homework which is great but she has to grade us somehow, so she asked us to write an essay.”

“That you forgot.” Eddie supplied.

“That I fucking forgot. Damn it.” Richie groaned, running his hands through his hair. “There goes my entire weekend.”

“Did Bev do the essay already?”

“Probably. She isn’t a procrastinating mess like I am.” Richie said with a sigh. “I should go, start working on it as soon as possible.”

Richie saw Eddie’s face fall and he shared the sentiment. He had hoped to spend some time with Eddie today, maybe watch some movies, cuddle in the couch, order some food. But that wasn't an option anymore.

“Would you mind terribly if I take a shower here? That way, I can stop by the library on my way to the apartment and pick up some books. I don’t want Mike to throw me out if I show up like this.” He said, gesturing to his sleeping clothes and messy appearance.

Richie saw a small blush appear on Eddie’s cheek, but refrained from commenting on it.

“I don’t mind.” Eddie said, with a small shrug. Richie stood up, rounded the kitchen table and leaned down to sloppily kiss Eddie’s cheek.

“You’re the best, Eds.” Richie was already out of the kitchen, when he turned around and smirked at Eddie. “Any chance of you joining me in the shower?”

He had expected Eddie to blush, to tell him to ‘shut the fuck up’ or beep him, like he did the other day on campus. He didn’t expect him to stand up and saunter over to him, stepping on his tiptoes to speak directly on Richie’s face, lips brushing against his as they moved.

“I would like that, very much.” Eddie said, chuckling at how Richie’s eyes widened behind his glasses. “But today, you have an essay to write.”

He placed a short kiss on Richie’s mouth before falling back on his heels and walking back to the counter, purposefully accentuating the sway of his hips.

“You’re an evil man, Eddie Kaspbrak.” Richie said, breathless, shaking his head. He could see Eddie’s shoulders shake with laughter. _Fuck, how is he so cute and hot at the same time?_ He wondered.

“Go take your shower, Tozier.” Eddie said.

With a final look at him, Richie turned around and headed for the bedroom to retrieve his bag of clothes.

From there, he called out, “The offer still stands.”

He could practically hear Eddie’s eye roll and pictured him shaking his head. He smiled at the mental picture. That smile turned into a laugh when he heard Eddie muttering, “Damn, slob,” before yelling at him, “You didn’t wash your goddamned dishes, you dick!”

“Sorry, Eds. Got more important stuff to wash.” Richie called, laughing, as he opened the door to the bathroom. He saw Eddie lean over the kitchen counter to glare at him. “Now, if you give me a hand with _that_ , I’ll return the favor.” He winked.

Eddie spluttered and grabbed what was closest to him, which turned out to be a plastic salt shaker and threw it at Richie. He reacted quickly and closed the door, hearing the salt shaker hit the spot where he had been standing seconds ago. He was still laughing as he got the shower started.

-♥-

Richie showered quickly, not wanting to waste Eddie’s hot water in case he wanted to shower after him. Still inside the bathroom, he put on his boxers and jeans but decided to mess with Eddie by walking out wearing just that while drying his wet curls with a towel.

He found Eddie sitting on the counter, munching on a Twinkie. He looked up when he heard Richie’s footsteps approaching and Richie saw his eyes widen when he saw him. Next thing he knew Eddie was hunched over, choking on his snack. He coughed a couple of times before lifting his head and meeting Richie’s eyes. He was flushed and Richie guessed it was only partially because of the coughing fit.

He smiled smugly. “Like what you see, Eds?”

Choosing to ignore Richie’s question, Eddie asked, “Why are you walking around half naked?”, his voice a bit hoarse from the coughing.

“Would you rather I walked around _completely_ naked?” Richie said, with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Eddie let out a laugh and shook his head. “Come here, you idiot.” He said, making grabby hands at Richie.

He let the towel drop to the floor and hurried over to the counter before Eddie could chastise him about it. Richie’s hands find their way to Eddie’s hips, while his tangled in Richie’s wet curls, pushing them back and out of his face.

“You look like a wet dog.” Eddie chuckled.

“Woof!” Richie fake-barked and Eddie’s chuckles turned into full on laughter. Wanting to listen to that sound again, Richie grinned and shook his head, sending droplets of water flying in every direction, including Eddie’s face.

“Richie, stop!” Eddie giggled and tried to get away from Richie but he wrapped his arms tightly around Eddie’s waist, keeping him in place.

“Am I a cute dog, Eds?” Richie laughed, nuzzling Eddie’s neck and making him squeal in laughter.

“You’re being a bad dog!”

Richie whined, not unlike a dog and licked Eddie’s neck. He heard the breath caught in Eddie’s throat at that and he placed a kiss on the same spot, before backing away enough to offer him a soft smile.

Eddie returned the smile while he traced Richie’s cheekbones with his thumbs, cradling his face. With Eddie sitting on the counter and Richie standing between his legs, their faces were on the same level and Richie could see an adoring expression on Eddie’s face.  

“What?” Richie asked, when Eddie just stared at him and said nothing.

“I’m just wondering what breed you would be if you were a dog.”

“I’m thinking something grand and magnificent like a German Shepherd.”

Eddie snorted. “I was thinking more like a Golden Retriever, because they slobber all over you and have a lot of hair and are restless and energetic. The only problem is that they’re too cute.” He said, smiling playfully.

“Same as me. It’s our cross to bear.”

Eddie giggled. “No, you idiot. I meant they’re _too cute_ to be you.” He explained, shoving Richie away, without success.

Richie gasped. “Well, if that’s how it’s going to be then I think you would be a Chihuahua.” When Eddie scrunched up his face, Richie explained. “Small, angry and fucking cute.”

“If you actually think I look like a Chihuahua, then we’re in trouble, Richie.” Eddie said, shaking his head. “They’re definitely _not_ cute.”

“Scrappy would differ.”

Eddie knitted his eyebrows. “Scrappy?”

“My childhood pet, he was a Chihuahua. He was cute as fuck.”

“Was _?_ Did he die?”

Richie frowned. “What? No! The little shit still lives with my parents. Couldn’t exactly bring him with me here.” He said, with a laugh. “I’ll ask them to send me a picture so you can see just how cute he is.”

Eddie chuckled. “Cuter than me?”

“Uh.” Richie chuckled awkwardly and Eddie raised his eyebrows at him in amusement. “Look at the time, I should get going.”

Eddie let out a surprised laugh and shook his head at Richie’s grin. Then he drew his face in and kissed him. Richie responded immediately, tightening his grip around Eddie’s waist and dragging him forward so that their bodies were pressed together. Eddie’s fingers brushed Richie’s hair back and parted his lips long enough to push his tongue against Richie’s, deepening the kiss. Eventually Richie’s hands found their way to Eddie’s naked thighs, his already short shorts had ridden up when he jumped on the counter and Richie would be damned if he didn’t take advantage of that, something Eddie didn’t seem to mind if the way his breath hitched when he felt Richie’s hands on him was anything to go by.

They made out for some time until their lips were red and slick with spit, coming up for air every once in a while. At one point, Richie tried to pull back entirely, only for Eddie to hook his legs around his waist, keeping him there.

“I _really_ should get going, babe.” Richie muttered against Eddie’s neck, where he laid a trail of kisses. Eddie whined in disagreement. “You were the one to tell me I have an essay to write and I should go.”

“I changed my mind.” Eddie said, playing with the sparse hairs on Richie’s naked chest while chasing his lips with his own mouth.

“Don’t do this to me, Eds.” Now it was Richie’s turn to whine. “I have to go.”

Eddie sighed. “ _Fineee_. Go. You have more important things to do.”

“Trust me, Eds, there’s nothing I’d rather do more than you, but I have no choice.” Richie said, apologetic smile on his face. “Get on with planning our second date, so I can see you again.” Richie murmured, and placed a soft kiss on his lips.

Eddie nodded and Richie stepped away, winking at him before leaving the kitchen to go put on a shirt and get his stuff. He came back to the living room to find Eddie waiting for him by the door.

“Good luck with your essay.” Eddie said, smiling up at Richie.

“Thank you, baby. I’ll let you know how it goes.” Richie said, then he cradled Eddie’s face and leaned forward to place a soft kiss on his forehead. “Bye Eds.”

“Bye Richie.” Eddie answered, opening the door and waving at Richie as he left. Twin smiles in both of their faces.

-♥-

It was a couple of days before Richie was able to see Eddie again. It was already Wednesday when he was leaving campus after class and he spotted him waiting in line to buy from a coffee cart, while he talked to a guy who Richie thought looked familiar. Eddie hadn’t noticed him and he figured he had to options, he could walk to him and say hi like a normal person or he could use the opportunity to embarrass his favorite boy, instead.

“Eddie Spaghetti!” He yelled, clearly choosing option number two. He saw Eddie flinch and turn around at the noise, as well the guy he was with and everyone else who had heard him. When Eddie’s eyes found Richie, he seemed to not know if he should smile or glare at him. Richie saw the guy next to him whisper something at Eddie, who in response blushed and elbowed him.

Once he was close enough so that Eddie didn’t have to yell, he said, “Was that really necessary, Richie?”

“What? Am I not allowed to say hello to my dear Eddie Spaghetti?” Richie asked in mock offense.

“You can. You just don’t have to announce it to the entire campus, or you know, use that damn nickname.” Eddie replied, crossing his arms and looking up at Richie, annoyed.

“But that’s taking away all the fun!”

“You’re an idiot.” Eddie said, shaking his head fondly.

Richie just smiled and leaned down to give him a quick kiss, but Eddie had other plans and he grabbed Richie’s face in his hands as he tried to pull away, and gave him a proper kiss. Then he pulled back and said, “Hi, Rich” with a sweet smile on his face.

With a dazed smile, Richie replied, “Hi, Eds.”

“Hello.” A third voice said, bursting the bubble the two were in. It was the guy Eddie had been talking to and Richie studied him as he straightened up. The guy was tall, almost as tall as Richie. He was a handsome guy, with short auburn hair and blue eyes and a nice smile. “Sorry, I was feeling a little left out there.” He chuckled.

Eddie blushed. “Uh, right. Richie, this is Bill Denbrough. Bill this is Richie Tozier.”

Richie’s eyes widened. “The famous Bill Denbrough! Pleasure to finally meet you, Big Bill.” He said, extending his hand for the other man to shake.

“We kind of met already. When I walked in on you and Eddie on Saturday.” Bill said, smirking.

“Jesus, Bill. You make it sound like you walked in on us having sex or something.” Eddie muttered, glaring at Bill, clearly embarrassed. Bill just shrugged in response.

“Well, it’s good to _officially_ meet you.” Richie said, his cheeks tinted pink at Bill’s words implications.

“You too, Richie. Eddie has told me a lot about you.”

Richie perked up at that and he smirked down at Eddie, who continued glaring at Bill. “You know, Bill? Ben said the exact same thing. Just how much does Eddie here talk about me?”

With a smirk on his face, Bill was about to answer when Eddie elbowed him on the ribs. “Okay, let’s move on from this conversation, thank you very much.”

Richie chuckled as he threw an arm around Eddie’s shoulders, pressing him against his side. As annoyed as Eddie appeared to be at the teasing, he wrapped both arms around Richie’s waist, lacing his own fingers together. Richie looked down at him with a soft smile on his face.

Bill caught him and when he looked up, Eddie’s friend was smirking at him. Richie felt himself start to blush once again.

In that moment, they heard someone else clear their throat. Eddie and Bill were the next in line to order and the guy from the cart was looking expectantly at them.

“Oh, sorry.” Eddie said, smiling apologetically at the guy. “Can I get a large black coffee and a large cappuccino and… Richie, did you want anything?” He asked, looking up at Richie, who shook his head. “Just that, then.”

The guy nodded. “Coming right up.”

“So, were you headed to class?” Eddie asked.

“No, I was actually on my way home.”

“Lucky you.” Bill said. “Eddie and I still have one class left. Hence the coffee.”

Eddie nodded. “Only way to survive.” He said. The coffee guy handed over their order and accepted the money Bill gave him. Then the three of them moved out of the way so other people could get their own coffee.

“How long until you guys have to go inside?” Richie asked, not wanting Eddie to go to class just yet.

“Uh, fifteen minutes.” Eddie said, after glancing down at his watch.

“Actually, I should head inside now. Save some seats for us.” Bill said, offering a conspirational smile at Eddie. “I’ll see you there, Ed?” The boy smiled and nodded and Richie found himself smiling too at Bill’s clear attempt to leave the two of them alone. “It was nice to meet you, Richie.”

“You too, Billy boy. See you around.”

With a wave and a final smile, Bill entered the building, leaving Richie and Eddie alone.

“I’m glad I ran into you, Eddie Spaghetti.”

Eddie scrunched up his nose at the nickname but didn’t say anything about it. “Me too, Rich. I actually wanted to ask you, uh, are you free on Friday?”

“I happen to be. Why?”

“Well, my shift at the bookstore was changed and I have the entire afternoon free and I thought we could have our second date. What do you think?”

“I think hell fucking yes!” Richie said, grinning. “Where are we going? What are we doing?” He said, bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet.

Eddie smirked. “I’m not telling you. You kept me in the dark for our first date, I’m returning the favor.”

“Fine. But unlike you, Spaghetti, I love surprises.” Richie said, booping Eddie’s nose. “Are you picking me up?”

“Yeah, I’ll text you the time.” Eddie said. “Speaking of time, I should go to class.”

Richie pouted, but nodded. “I guess I’ll see you on Friday then, Eds.”

“Yeah.” Eddie stepped on his tiptoes and kissed Richie as a goodbye. It was a short, sweet kiss, from which he stepped back quickly. Before leaving though, he hesitated. “Uh, also Bill won’t come back home on Friday night so, I thought after the date we can go back to my apartment?”

Richie found himself nodding before Eddie was done speaking. He was confused as to why he seemed nervous. After all, just a couple of days ago they had spent the night together. Except Bill had been there last Friday and this time it would be just the two of them, alone and-

“Oh. _Oh_.” Richie exclaimed, once his brain caught up with what Eddie’s big doe eyes were trying to convey and suddenly Eddie wasn’t the only nervous one. “Sure, yeah, okay. I’ll- yeah. Let’s do that.” He said, running a hand through his hair and letting out a nervous chuckle.

Eddie nodded, a small smile creeping on his face. “Okay, until Friday then.”

“See ya, cutie.” Richie said, with a wink. Eddie scrunched up his face but waved back, before disappearing inside the building, leaving Richie alone to think about what Friday would have in store for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a while but I'm finally back with a chapter for this story. Enjoy and don't forget to leave a comment or come find me on tumblr [jem-castairs-is-perfection](http://jem-carstairs-is-perfection.tumblr.com/)
> 
> ♥♥♥♥


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